


She-Ra: Grayskull (1 of 3)

by maevemarch



Series: She-Ra Trilogy [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Multi, Mutual Pining, Other, Series, Slow Burn, Stand Alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25896907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maevemarch/pseuds/maevemarch
Summary: After what seemed like an eternity, Kyle is holding his newborn daughter in his hands. After staring at her face in awe, he finally is able to mutter the words “she’s... adora-” The word adorable is interrupted by a large blast that shakes the ship. Kyle holds on to his newborn baby daughter with all of his might through the shaking. He eventually hands her to Mara, who is laying against the wall. He kisses Mara and says “I’ll be right back, take good care of her”.“Before you go...” Mara begins, “I like that name”.“Wh-what name?” Kyle asks.“The one you just said... Adora”orMy own take on the story of She-Ra, inspired by the characters and lore mainly from the new series with a few references to the old one. Basically, Mara and Kyle are from Earth, and after a dust up with Horde Prime, they are forced to send their newborn baby Adora into a pocket dimension so she has a chance to survive on Etheria. 18 years later, she's grown up. This is her story.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Angella/Micah (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Mara/Kyle, Mermista & Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1879270
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Portals

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are all based on Noelle Stevenson's She-Ra characters with a few minor changes,
> 
> \- Mara is Adora's mother and never was/is She-Ra
> 
> \- Kyle is Adora's father and is not involved with Adora or the Horde except in the beginning of the story.
> 
> \- Adora is fully human whose parents are from Earth
> 
> \- Scorpia is not actually a Scorpion, she's a regular Etherian human who is nicknamed Scorpia due to her mech-suit with scorpion-like arms.
> 
> \- Micah and Angella are both alive and remain that way, together.
> 
> \- Shadow Weaver is a bit more apologetic for her actions
> 
> \- Horde Prime is technically involved from the beginning and Hordak is not the bad guy
> 
> \- Frosta is as old as, if not older, than most of the other princesses (don't worry there's nothing dirty regardless)
> 
> \- Light Hope is established as an Artificial Intelligence
> 
> \- Swift Wind is not in this (!)
> 
> Also, I tried to explain the science, technology and geography that drive this story as best as I could but if you have any questions, comment and I will answer. Enjoy the story!

Humans are, without any doubt, the fastest race in the Milky Way to mature into anything resembling an advanced civilization. Decades prior to 2106, they did away with old politics and pointless quarrels. They realized that they all shared the same planet, and that there were billions more out there to explore. It didn’t take them long to master interspace travel, as they learned how to open wormholes and use light sails to travel incomprehensible distances in a matter of seconds. However, this story in particular, a story of love, heroism, destiny, and justice, is where we draw focus. 

In the year 2097, the Earth Space Agency discovered a curious little planet on the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy. The locals refer to this planet as “Etheria”. Etheria, being unlike other habited worlds, is on its own, with no star to orbit around. Instead, life is abundant here because of the planet’s eight moons, two of which provide the same amount of heat and light that any star would. But this is not the only reason for life. The main reason, the reason the humans are so obsessed with this planet, is the magical energy buried within the planet’s core. The humans, having never seen nor studied what magical energy is, became vastly intrigued, and had almost four-hundred million colonizers settle the little planet, which is roughly one-fourth the size of Earth. Within seven years, magical energy was being mined from Etheria every day. The Etherians, some one-hundred fifty million of them, did not necessarily see the humans as anything more than new neighbours. They had previously been uncontacted, and were open to peaceful cooperation. 

The original people of Etheria come from two different races, those that are essentially identical to humans from Earth (with a few minor exceptions such as differing skin colours and pointed ears on some) and the Magicats, who appear similar to humans but possess cat-like features. An unofficial third race also exists, who are descendants of parents from both races. Racism never was nor is an issue on Etheria, and the humans from Earth tend to not have bigoted attitudes toward the natives, as they have learned from their past mistakes on Earth, and have, by now, seen so many other races and civilizations that it is hard to criticize any of them. Some people, not all, regardless of race, are able to use and manipulate the magical energy of Etheria. These people are called sorcerers, and they have the ability to channel and manipulate magical energy through spells.

However, those whose bloodlines are bonded to runestones, stones that contain specific and special magical energy, are members of a kingdom’s royal family. There are seven runestones that are known to exist, each one holding extremely powerful elemental magical energy. The seven runestones belong to specific kingdoms of Etheria, and are distributed as such: Brightmoon, the largest and most powerful kingdom, holds the Moonstone, which gives the royal family the ability to channel the magic from Etheria’s moons. Salineas holds The Pearl, which gives the royal family a magical dominion over water and sea creatures. Plumeria holds the Heart Blossom, which gives the royal family a magical dominion over plant and animal life. The Kingdom of Snows holds the Fractal Flake, which gives the royal family a magical dominion over snow and ice. Halfmoon holds the Spirit Ember, which gives the royal family a magical dominion over fire. Skyland holds the Black Garnet, which gives the royal family a magical dominion over electricity. Even though Dryl, a city-state and the seventh kingdom of Etheria, does not hold a runestone in their possession, a seventh runestone still exists. This runestone, which does not bond to any bloodline nor belongs to any kingdom, is the source of She-Ra’s power. She-Ra, the Princess of Power, is a legendary warrior and designated protector of Etheria, who is chosen from the general population by the runestone to hold its magic. The runestone is not an actual stone, but rather, a physical manifestation of concentrated magical energy. The runestone, in the past, manifested itself as The Sword of Protection, which She-Ra used to defend Etheria. Nowadays, this isn’t entirely true. 

As the humans from Earth began settling in the seven kingdoms of Etheria, they gained more control over local politics than anyone realized. As the Sword of Protection had not chosen a new She-Ra for many years prior to the humans’ arrival, there was no She-Ra to defend the concentrated magic from being taken by the humans. The humans were able to quickly study and harness the runestone’s magic, and created their own artificial sword that houses the runestone. With this newfound capability, they were able to assign their own She-Ra to the Sword of Protection, as well as make it so only a human could harness the magical power held within the sword. This new, human She-Ra, was the first of her kind, and was told by her Earth Space Agency superiors that her duty was to protect the human colonizers from harm. In the year 2106, she remains on Etheria among the nearly four-hundred million other humans. However, little did anyone know that a force the humans were already in the midst of fighting farther out in the Andromeda, a force known as The Horde, would soon be knocking on Etheria’s doorstep. 

Earth, 2106: 

As “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim plays loudly over Kyle’s stereo, he continues folding clothing into a bag on his bed. Kyle, an ESA Commander, is packing for his next mission to Etheria, as he is due to depart tomorrow. Kyle has been dispatched to oversee Etheria’s defence systems to ensure nothing goes wrong, as The Horde, a galactic empire ruled by a hive-mind known as Horde Prime, has been attempting to breach them in order to access Etheria’s magic for himself. At least, that’s what his mission dossier says. While Kyle continues packing, his nine-month pregnant wife, Mara, waddles into their bedroom, owning a partially annoyed look on her face.

“Kyle, why do you like this song so much? It's over a hundred years old!” exclaims Mara.

“I don’t know, I’ve just always had this connection to it…” Kyle admits, begrudgingly. 

Kyle turns off the stereo and continues packing his bag.

“I just don’t understand… Why do you have to go so soon? The baby’s gonna be here in a few days…” says Mara.

“Mara, I know the baby is due in a few days, but I have my orders!” exclaims Kyle. 

“Why can’t they just let you STAY for the rest of the week? Why do you have to go NOW?” pleads Mara.

“Horde Prime is attempting to breach Etheria’s defences. I need to be there as soon as possible to make sure that doesn’t happen. You know what would happen if the Horde got a hold of the energy that planet has... we... I can’t let that happen. Not now. Not when I’m about to start my family.” 

Kyle puts both of his hands over Mara’s shoulders.

“I’ll only be gone for a few weeks. I promise AS SOON AS I get back, I’ll be the best dad the universe has ever seen,” Kyle states with confidence.

“Promise?” Mara sarcastically chuckles, leaning in for a kiss. However, before she kisses him, she pauses and asks,

“what if I came with you?”

“What? Why would you want to do that?” Kyle asks.

“I want to be with you... Besides, I’ve never seen Etheria before. From what you tell me, it’s the most beautiful place in the Andromeda... and I know with you up above me defending the planet I’ll be safe in one of the bases. What do you say?” Mara pleads.

“I’d have to ask my superior, but I think she’ll be okay with it. Perks of being a commander, I get special treatment.” Kyle smiles, finishing the sentence by kissing Mara.

“Oooh I’m so excited now... I’ll go pack!” Mara shouts as she scurries off into another room. 

Kyle turns around to face Mara leaving and stares as she exits the threshold and out of his sight. He continues staring but gradually gets a concerned and nervous look. He knows this time may not be the safest for his wife, but he is not one to argue. Besides, he has full confidence in himself and the defence system. At least, he thinks he does. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“Primary beams charging, auxiliary beams at the ready” the ship’s pilot states. 

“Go for auxiliary beams” Kyle responds from the copilot seat. 

A day later, Kyle, Mara, and another ESA officer are on board a ship, ready to depart for Etheria through the gateway apparatus situated on Earth’s moon. The journey will be fairly quick, a mere few seconds. A wormhole will open within the gateway apparatus, and the ship will travel through it at near light speed after the ship’s light sails catch the massive lasers being fired at them. It is this type of interspace travel that has made the humans the fastest race in their Local Group to expand throughout it. In three decades, humans have a presence in every galaxy, in almost every star system and on almost every habitable planet. Some humans have never even been to Earth. 

“Primary and auxiliary beams charged and ready” the pilot states.

“Honey, how long is this trip going to take?” Mara asks from the seat behind her husband.

“We’ll be there before you know it” Kyle says with a calming voice. 

“Gate apparatus at the ready” the pilot states.

“Opening one-way traversable gate by my command in three... two... one... “ Kyle counts down.

As Kyle finishes saying the word “one”, a glowing green light appears before them, swirling within the metal structure meant to contain the wormhole. When the light dims and the swirling stops, they are suddenly staring at Andromeda Galaxy. 

“Initiate countdown to fire and set sail” Kyle says, authoritatively. 

“Countdown commencing now” the pilot states. 

Just then, an audible computer countdown begins over the ship’s speakers. The countdown begins at 30. Kyle turns around and faces his pregnant wife. 

“We’ll be on Etheria in a few minutes. My living quarters at the Grayskull base is being prepped for your arrival, I even have a surprise waiting there for you...” Kyle teases.

“The baby isn’t going to be affected by Etheria’s atmosphere or night and day patterns, is it?” Mara asks, worried at the last second. 

“Don’t worry, Mara. Etheria’s environment is almost identical to Earth in every aspect.” 

Mara smiles, then immediately scours. She looks down at her feet, and notices a shallow pool of water on the floor, occasionally rippling as water drips down into it. 

“Uhhhh, Kyle? My water just broke.” Mara admits, shocked. 

“WHAT??!?” Kyle shouts, as the countdown reaches zero. Mara starts screaming in pain and the ship blasts into the wormhole. 

The ship stops in front of Etheria, but whatever defences were in place have been nearly destroyed. Horde ships are engaged in a battle with ESA ships around the planet’s outer atmosphere and around the 8 moons. Kyle suddenly is trying to handle two situations at once, as Mara screams from both pain and the terror being caused by her surroundings. 

Kyle shouts “MARA, BABY, IT’S OKAY, WE’RE GONNA GET OUT OF HERE!”

Mara cries out “AGHHH KYLE THE BABY IS COMING NOW!”

The ship takes a direct hit. 

“Hull integrity at 84%” the ship’s computer audibly states. 

“Officer, you take over ship operations. Get us out of here! I’m going back to help my wife.”

“Aye-aye sir” the pilot responds. 

As the ship takes on blow after blow from the Horde ambush, Kyle frantically tries to help his wife deliver the baby. He leads her down the ship’s main corridor to a medical bay.

“Ok, Mara, bite down on this” he says as he hands her a balled up shirt he takes out of his bag. Mara bites down on the shirt as both of her hands are clasped firmly on the bar above her. Mara screams as another contraction overcomes her. Mara, as instructed by her doctor, carries a stopwatch in order to time contractions should she go into labour before she makes it to a hospital. 

“Ok, you have your stopwatch. How long has it been since that contraction and the last one?” Kyle asks hurriedly.

Mara spits out the shirt and grunts in pain, then looks at the stopwatch. “3 minutes 19 seconds” Mara replies.

“Ok well, you’re gonna have to push. I don’t know if this is right to rush this but we don’t really have a choice here baby” Kyle says in a hurried manner.

Mara screams in pain as she starts the birthing process.

“Keep pushing baby... it’s working.” Kyle cheers her on, hands at the ready.

Mara continues screaming and Kyle continues saying “push” for about 30 more seconds. 

After what seemed like an eternity, Kyle is holding his newborn daughter in his hands. After staring at her face in awe, he is finally able to mutter the words “she’s... adora-” The word adorable is interrupted by a large blast that shakes the ship. Kyle holds on to his newborn baby daughter with all of his might through the shaking. He eventually hands her to Mara, who is laying against the wall. He kisses Mara and says “I’ll be right back, take good care of her”. 

“Before you go...” Mara begins, “I like that name”.

“Wh-what name?” Kyle asks.

“The one you just said... Adora”.

“That’s not what I- nevermind. We’ll discuss this later. I really need to go back to the bridge.” Kyle states with a facial expression that reads as nothing except “I’m sorry”. 

“Go save the day, commander” Mara sarcastically replies. 

Kyle gives her a smile and then sprints towards the front of the ship. 

“Officer, give me a status update” Kyle demands as he enters the bridge.

“Hull integrity at 65% sir. That last blow did a number on us, only the emergency cargo supply ejection pod is functional. In a few minutes our local movement system is going to fail... We’ll be stranded.”

Kyle gives out a series of frustrated and conflicted gestures and grunts. 

“Incoming transmission” the computer audibly reads. 

“Open communication” Kyle commands. 

A robotic voice begins reading aloud: “This is an emergency evacuation notice for all ESA personnel and human residents of Etheria. Horde forces have infiltrated Etherian defences and have been spotted near the following cities: Elberon, Arksia, Brightmoon Castle, Alwyn, Erelandia, Thaymor, and Dryl. This evacuation is considered mandatory and the ESA has unanimously agreed to enact Despondos Protocol. The planet of Etheria will be moved to an undisclosed dimension in order to protect itself and all other ESA controlled territory should the Horde gain access to our energy projects. Etheria is to be abandoned immediately. You have 9 minutes 56 seconds to evacuate. Please proceed to the nearest evacuation terminal to return to Earth or you will be trapped permanently on Etheria. End Transmission.”

“Sir, we’ve lost L.M.S. capabilities. We can’t move. We’re stuck in orbit” the pilot says. 

“We wouldn’t have enough time to make it to the surface and evacuate safely even if we COULD.” Kyle sadly admits. 

“It’s been an honour, sir.”

“We may die today, but I’m going to give my daughter a fighting chance,” Kyle says, determined. 

Kyle turns and runs back towards Mara and their baby as Mara is breastfeeding.

“Give her to me.” Kyle demands quickly, reaching for the baby as Mara hands her to him. 

“Kyle, what’s going on?” Mara asks, confused.

As Kyle begins unpacking his suitcase, stuffing the supply ejection pod with cushioning, he begins talking. “ESA just announced an evacuation, they are in Despondos Protocol. Our engines and ejection pods are busted... except for one. The supply drop pod. We might not make it, but I’m going to try my best to make sure she does. The supply drop pod is too small for either of us, but she’ll be able to fit. We have about 8 minutes left to get her on the surface before they send the planet to Despondos. Once the planet is in Despondos, the Horde battalions already on it will be cut off from the hive and quickly run out of resources. She’ll be safe. The flight time to the surface is about 6 minutes from here, so we need to hurry to prepare the pod.”

Mara, tearing up, gets up and works her way through the soreness and pain to help her husband. “We have to give her a name. We have to tell whoever finds her who she is.” 

Kyle pulls out a white shirt and a black marker from his bag. He continues hurriedly stuffing the pod with clothing to act as cushioning around their baby. He hands Mara the white shirt and the marker and says “here, write your message on this and I’ll put it in the pod last”. 

Mara begins writing and speaking her written words out loud so her husband can hear. “This is...” she takes a pause, “...Adora. She is from Earth. Her parents are Mara and Kyle. Please take care of her like she was your own.” 

Kyle turns and looks at Mara, smiles, then kisses her. “Good choice” he says. He finishes fixing the pod with clothing, clothes Adora with the shirt that has the message, wipes her head, gently kisses her and whispers “I love you. I always will. You are going to get the chance to do great things. I’m making sure of it.” 

Mara then gets a turn with Adora and says “I love you too, so... so much. I want you to have a life. I want you to do good things. I know you are going to do just that, and you’ll make me the proudest mother in the universe.” Mara kisses Adora gently on the head and Kyle places Adora in the pod, closing the hatch. 

As Kyle begins typing in Etherian coordinates, he speaks, saying: “The alert says the Horde has infiltrated Arksia so we can’t send her to the Grayskull Base there. I know an Etherian woman near Alwyn that may be able to help. Her name is Razz... I trust her. I’ve already messaged her saying where I am sending Adora. Hopefully she’ll be able to reach her... She can either die up here with us or have a chance at living down there. I’ll take the latter any day of the week.”

“Whatever it takes, if she gets a chance to live, it’s worth it.” Mara responds. 

Just then, a large, glowing green light surrounds Etheria. The pilot runs back towards Kyle and Mara, shouting: “SIR! The ESA has moved up the Despondos Transfer. It’s in 30 seconds now. You won’t make it. Not everyone has evacuated yet but the Horde has been discovered to possess interdimensional portal technology similar to ours. They are preparing to use it to follow Etheria into Despondos, but they are only going to be able to keep their portal open for a short amount of time, so the ESA assumes only a skeleton crew of Horde scientists will be sent in to try and preserve our energy projects for themselves, but the rest of the Horde has retreated. If you want to send your daughter to safety, you’ll have to be quick and use their portal.” 

“DAMN IT!” Kyle exclaims as he punches the wall. 

“Why are you so upset? Just do what the officer said and use the Horde’s portal.” Mara says with an increasingly worried voice.

“It’s not that simple. Every ten seconds that passes in our reality is nearly a hundred years in Despondos.”

“Kyle, it’s her only shot” Mara begins crying.

Etheria’s green glow becomes a huge flash of light and then disappears. The counting begins. 

1… 2… 3… 4… 

Kyle is quick to act, looking for the Horde’s portal, as he counts the seconds passing in his reality, which tell him how many years have passed in his daughter’s future reality.  
26… 27… 28...

“Come on, Horde, open your portal...” Kyle speaks with anticipation. 

44.... 45… 46...

Soon, he sees a green light nearby which opens into a portal. 

62… 63… 64… 

As the massive Horde ship moves in, he locks its location into the pod’s autopilot and prepares for launch. “I’ve got it!’ He shouts. “Launching now!” he announces as he presses the launch button. 

78...79...80... 

“I know you are going to do great things” he whispers while staring at his daughter’s pod. 

“How much time did we lose?” Kyle asks.

“About 90 seconds” Mara replies, looking at her stopwatch. 

“Whenever she ends up, I hope she’s safe… for her sake.”

It takes roughly 20 seconds for Adora’s pod to enter the portal after ejecting. In total, between Etheria’s disappearance and Adora’s entering of Despondos, exactly 98.2 seconds have passed. Mara and Kyle’s disabled ship is now the only remaining intact body amongst the carnage of what used to be Etheria’s defence system. They are alone, floating in the empty space where Etheria once was.

____________________________________________________________________________

Etheria, 1000 years later: 

As “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim plays over a loudspeaker in the Fright Zone’s cadet quarters, Force Captain Adora, age 18, lays on her Horde-issued bed, reading a mission dossier. Adora smiles as she moves her feet to the beat of the music while she reads. Suddenly, her second-in-command and lifelong best friend, Catra, also age 18, appears around the corner and walks over to the speaker. 

“Adora, why do you love this crappy song so much? It’s over a THOUSAND years old” Catra taunts.

“The First Ones left us this huge collection of their music, how can you not enjoy ANY of it?” Adora retorts back at Catra. “Besides, I don’t really know why. I’ve just always felt like I’ve had this connection to it. “

“Oh, whatever. At least I know my Force Captain can still jam out to the worst song in existence” Catra laughs.

“Hey, you quit your taunting or I’m going to make you do 20 laps around the barracks!” Adora smiles as she lovingly threatens Catra with physical exercise which she knows she hates.

“You’ll have to catch me if you want me to stop teasing you and that big forehead of yours!” Catra laughs playfully and starts running out of the room. 

Adora leaps out of her bed and chases after Catra, laughing. “OH THAT DOES IT, GET BACK HERE!” she yells as they both laugh and run through the Fright Zone’s grey hallways. 

The Fright Zone, as it has been nicknamed by both the 5 kingdoms of Etheria and the imprisoned residents of it, is the area of land controlled by the Horde. The land used to be known as the Kingdom of Skyland, and was once a beautiful and shining place, populated by about thirty-seven million people. However, after the Horde invaded Etheria 18 years ago, and after the mass death and destruction brought by them, the population decreased to about thirty-three million people. This, of course, is counted AFTER the Horde brought 2.4 million kidnapped children from other kingdoms to The Fright Zone to be raised as child soldiers. In total, the Horde’s invasion took the lives of approximately 8.5 million Etherians, most of them being from Skyland. Skyland, seeing no alternative option, succumbed to the Horde’s might, and allowed them to seize control of the kingdom. Nowadays, the Horde’s military is 12.5 million strong, almost nine million of them being child soldiers. The remaining population lives with heavily restricted freedoms, including not being allowed to leave The Fright Zone. Not to mention, for more than a decade, they have been subjected to nonstop reeducation and propaganda instituted by the Horde. There is a reason the place is named “The Fright Zone”. 

But, it’s not ALL bad. At least, not for Adora and Catra. After all, those two have been best friends since before they can even remember. Adora, having been with the Horde since forever, vaguely remembers any time when Catra was not present with her. Unbeknownst to her, when she was sent through the Horde’s portal by her parents, she was kidnapped by the Horde and was, effectively, the Horde’s first child soldier. A few years later, a young magicat girl was brought into the same bunk room as Adora, and was told to form companionships with her new squad. Her name was Catra, and, unbeknownst to both of them, she was one of the 2.4 million children kidnapped by the Horde. Newborn baby Catra was taken from her home in Halfmoon when the Horde invaded Etheria. Shortly after her abduction, her original home city of Candor was bombed and her parents were presumed dead. Fortunately, for both girls, neither of them have any sad memories of these events, and, quite frankly, no memories of the invasion at all. Unfortunately, this, combined with the Horde’s deliberate misinformation, leads to both of them pledging their loyalty to their kidnappers. 

The Horde’s skeleton crew, made up of 780 clones of Horde Prime, theoretically, should not be able to function in an empty dimension cut off from their hive mind. However, being as Horde Prime is not incompetent, he was able to plan for this. The skeleton crew brought with them an extension of Horde Prime’s hive mind, which, essentially, means they are able to function normally. Their mission is the same as always: conquer the kingdoms of Etheria, take the magical power from the runestones and drain the planet of its magical energy for Horde use. Being that Horde Prime’s clones have a lifespan of hundreds of years, there is absolutely no need for rush on their part. This is why their plan involves mass death, destruction and kidnapping of young children. They could not conquer an entire planet with 780 clones, no matter how advanced their technology is. They could, however, conquer an entire planet if they control that planet’s younger population. Everything the Horde has done so far, every kidnapping, every death, every imprisonment… it is all to progress their plan for complete control. In the meantime, the three top scientists of the Horde are hard at work in The Fright Zone, continuing their research as to how to tap into Etheria’s magic. 

As Catra leads Adora quickly down a hallway, still pretending to evade Adora’s hot pursuit of her, they both abruptly run into their superior and lifelong caretaker, Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver, once a widely respected sorcery teacher in the Brightmoon city of Mystacor, became overpowered with greed and anger, leading her to join the Horde. Nowadays, she commands a squadron of teenaged Horde soldiers, and is assigned to personally care for Adora and Catra. Being that Adora and Catra never had a parental figure in their lives, nonetheless ever knowing what a parental figure IS, Shadow Weaver is the closest they have to whoever needs to fill that void for them, no matter how unequipped she may be for raising children correctly. Shadow Weaver stops both of them and scolds them. 

“What do you two think you are doing?” she says, both condescending and annoyed.

“We were just going to the mess hall for dinner!” Catra interjects.

“Cadet Catra, that is no way to address your superior. Force Captain Adora, please educate your squad member on how to properly speak to her superiors.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Adora says, too intimidated to react any other way. 

“When you are finished eating, Force Captain, I need to see you in the Cadet Hall. We are planning a new mission to the Whispering Woods near the Brightmoon city of Alwyn next week and your squadron will be leading the charge.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Adora repeats herself, staring at Shadow Weaver as she walks away from them. 

“Wow, you REALLY don’t like trouble, do you?” Catra taunts at Adora.

“Catra, there’s no point in causing trouble when you don’t need to.” Adora refutes Catra’s statement.

“Whatever, are we gonna get food or what?” Catra asks, increasingly becoming irritated at Adora’s insistent goody-two-shoes attitude.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I gotta make it quick though, if you haven’t heard, I’m needed.” Adora boasts to Catra in a humorous manner. 

“I wonder what we’re gonna do on this mission” Catra says as she and Adora continue walking towards the mess hall.

Adora answers as she smiles at Catra, “I’m not sure yet, but whatever it is, I feel like it’s gonna be really special for both of us.”


	2. Power and Authority

18 years ago, it seemed like the world was ending. At least, that’s what it felt like for the King and Queen of Brightmoon. King Micah’s and Queen Angella’s kingdom was not subjected to too much destruction or death, but they witnessed first hand the atrocities committed against their allies in Halfmoon and Skyland. Shortly after the dust settled and the Horde controlled Skyland, the 6 kingdoms formed an alliance of their strongest warriors, sorcerers and runestone channelers. However, that alliance quickly fell apart and was not strong enough to defeat the Horde, even then. Now, 18 years have passed, and the Horde has only gotten stronger. Had She-Ra been a member of the alliance back then, maybe they would have been strong enough. Sadly, there has not been a new She-Ra chosen in nearly a thousand years, not since after the stars disappeared. No one even knows where her sword is. Regardless, Brightmoon, today, continues to be the largest and strongest kingdom of Etheria, ruled by King Micah, Queen Angella, and their nineteen year old daughter, Princess Glimmer.

“MOM, PLEASE, LET ME BORROW IT!” Glimmer pleads with her mother, Queen Angella.

“JUST FOR TONIGHT I PROMISE I WON’T RUIN IT!”

“No, Glimmer, I’ve told you a thousand times. You cannot take this outside of the castle grounds. It’s too dangerous.” Angella answers. 

Suddenly, King Micah walks into the room where Glimmer and Angella are engaged in a seemingly already decided battle.

“What is with all the yelling in here?” Micah asks.

“Dad, hi. I’m introducing the players at tonight’s Arksia vs. Alwyn iceball game and I want to wear Mom’s Moonstone necklace-”

“-to show it off to random people.” Angella interrupts her daughter.

“-TO DISPLAY POWER AND AUTHORITY, MOM. ITS WHAT PRINCESSES ARE SUPPOSED TO DO AT PUBLIC EVENTS.” Glimmer responds, visibly agitated. 

“You display power and authority just by being there, Glimmer” Angella responds in a calm yet strict voice. 

“Mom, I’ve told you several times, nobody outside of this castle respects my authority! They think I’m still just some little kid with magic powers! I’m sick of it!” 

Micah interjects, “Glimmer, you may think that, but, a lot of people feel that way because you act too careless in public. How about this: tonight, when you walk into the arena, practice good posture, speak with a calm, clear voice, and keep your eyes focused on the crowd. Good presentation is key.”

“You really think that will work?” Glimmer asks her dad.

“I’ve been doing public appearances for 30 years, Glimmer. I’ve learned a thing or two about commanding respect from crowds.”

“Well, in that case, I need to go practice pronouncing some of these names. Iceball players have some weird spellings,” Glimmer looks down at the piece of paper she is holding. “Like this guy… Tsukvrae? Tsukvruh? I have no idea…”

Micah glances at the name on the paper Glimmer is struggling to pronounce.

“Tsukvroh. Midagan Tsukvroh. It’s an older Plumerian name.”

“Thanks, dad.” Glimmer smiles and hugs her dad.

“Mom, I’m sorry for yelling. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”

Queen Angella smirks and rolls her eyes at her daughter, knowing that she will probably be hearing Glimmer yell again by the time she comes home. Glimmer has always had a flare for the dramatic. 

“Okay, well, I’m off to get ready, I’ll be back shortly after the second moonset, the game should be over by then.” Glimmer announces as she walks out of the door. 

“...Oh, and, I’m bringing Bow with me too,” Glimmer says quickly, then immediately uses her magic powers to teleport away to her bedroom.

“WHAT-” both Micah and Angella say simultaneously even though by the time they finish Glimmer is already gone. 

“I don’t trust that boy with our daughter,” Angella says to her husband, concerned.

“Why has she taken such a liking to him?” Micah asks.

“I suppose she doesn’t have much companionship around here… having only one friend can lead to a level of attachment that’s too strong to break,” Angella answers.

“Fair point. I still think they need to be supervised, though. For her sake, not ours.” Micah responds. 

Angella smiles and lets out a short burst of laughter. “Let her have her own night. After all, it’s best she learns how to handle public appearances on her own,” she says. 

Glimmer, freshly teleported into her bedroom, lays out her desired clothing choice on her bed, next to a distracted nineteen year old boy named Bow. Bow, a member of Brightmoon’s royal guard, has been Glimmer’s best friend since he arrived in the castle three years ago. Originally recruited as a technician prodigy, he quickly developed a friendship with the princess, as he was the only other person her age allowed near her. Soon enough, Glimmer was begging her parents to assign Bow to be her personal guard. Bow, having always been skilled with weapons (his adoptive parents named him Bow because when he was little, he would always carry around a toy bow and arrow set) happily obliged and now remains by Glimmer’s side almost non-stop. Of course, he still occasionally offers his input whenever someone should need technical advice.

“How do you even pronounce these names? What is this one… My-day-gan Tsukvree?” Bow asks, dumbfounded.

“Midagan Tsukvroh. Apparently it’s a Plumerian name,” Glimmer answers back. 

“How soon until you are ready to go?” Bow asks.

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll have this outfit on.” Glimmer responds. 

“Okay, well, try and make it quick. We don’t have a whole lot of time for travel.”

“Bow… you know I can literally teleport, right?”

“Yeah, I know, but, I like taking the train there. It’s smooth, enjoyable, plus we can talk for a little bit before we get into all the business stuff.”

Glimmer grins ever so slightly. “Talk about… what, exactly?” 

“You know, just… uh… ‘bout stuff.” Bow responds.

“‘Bout what stuff?” Glimmer asks, again.

“Stuff, and... things. You know, ‘bout us.” 

“What about us?” Glimmer asks with an amused tone.

“Just... nevermind. Please, go get dressed so we can just go to the stupid game.” Bow snaps, but with obvious frustration over his feelings for Glimmer. Glimmer can tell that Bow loves her and she is going to ride this wave as long as she possibly can before canonizing their relationship as something other than “just friends”. After all, she is a princess. She can never be too careful. 

“Alright, alright. Back in a flash,” Glimmer says as she disappears into thin air. Bow stares at the spot where she once stood, conflicted with how he should continue this night. 

Bow, thinking to himself, admits his true feelings for Glimmer. “I just wanted to tell her that she is the only person in my life that actually makes me feel happy.”

He continues within his own thoughts, “I want her to be my girlfriend, not just my friend. She’s literally perfect. I wanted to tell her all of this on the Hypersonic train but she seems… hesitant. Maybe if I tell her during the game… or maybe after. Yeah, after is good. We can take the train home after.”

Suddenly, Glimmer appears back in her bedroom, fully dressed in her beautiful outfit. A stylish, shimmering black 2-piece suit covered in purple sparkles with a golden headband and black fingerless gloves to top it off. To Bow, she’s breathtaking. 

“Don’t just stand there and drool, get my shoes, please.” Glimmer says with her beautiful smile. She could ask Bow to do anything right now and he would do it smiling ear-to-ear. 

Bow bends down, sets her shoes on the floor so she can slide into them, looks up at her and says “wow, you look amazing. Like, AMAZING amazing.”

“You’re lookin’ pretty sharp there, too, mister Bow,” says Glimmer.

Bow jokingly coughs an “ahem, that is MASTER ARCHER Bow, my princess.”

“Okay, MASTER ARCHER Bow, can we go now?” 

“Yes, let’s go. We either got a 30 minute train ride to Alwyn, or we have a one second teleport. Which do you prefer?” Bow asks, knowing the answer already.

“One sounds like it involves a lot of sitting down, that’s probably better for after the game, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, alright. Teleport away, my princess.”

“Call me princess one more time and I’ll teleport you to the Kingdom of Snows and leave you there.”

Bow laughs in a jokingly nervous manner, “hehe, sorry. Please, do your thing.”

“Thank you,” Glimmer says, satisfied with herself. They both soon disappear from Glimmer’s bedroom and reappear in Alwyn’s iceball arena, ready to read off some really difficult to pronounce names. 

____________________________________________________________________________

”ETA to this vessel’s Brightmoon disembarkment is 7 minutes. The assigned Force Captain may now proceed to the Cadet area of their respective ship,” a voice reads out over the intercom of Adora’s ship. 

As soon as Adora hears this, she is immediately filled with a sense of fear, but also a sense of excitement. This is her first REAL mission. It’s no longer simulations. It’s no longer sparring sessions. It’s no longer target practice. For once, she is actually going to lead her squad, including her lifelong best friend, into a dangerous situation. She is nervous, but she has confidence in herself. At least, she thinks she does. The Horde’s mission is simple: as soon as their ships cross the Sea of Sigh and make it through the Dark Mountains and the Whispering Woods, they are to establish a ground presence and reach the city of Alwyn. There, they are to dismantle Brightmoon’s troops and set up an occupation of the region in order to cut off southeastern Brightmoon from the rest of the kingdom. Once the region is under The Horde’s control, they can advance their plans to invade the rest of Brightmoon. Adora’s squad, specifically, is to patrol one of the smaller extra-urban towns. After all, it is their first mission, they shouldn’t be thrown into the deep end without any experience. 

As Adora nears her squad, she can’t help but think of all the possible things that could go wrong. She already knows she is not leaving Catra’s side, and she reasonably assumes Catra will be doing the same. Before she knows it, she is standing in front of her squad. 15 soldiers, all roughly the same age, at her disposal, including Catra, whom she would never dispose of. She wouldn’t dispose of anyone else, either, but… ESPECIALLY not Catra. 

“You ready, Force Captain?” Catra taunts Adora yet again.

“Stay close to me, do what I say and you’ll all be fine” Adora says loud enough for her entire squad to hear, but Catra knows it was directed at her. 

“Ground occupation will launch in approximately 4 minutes” the voice reads out over the intercom again. 

“Hey, Adora, you feeling alright?” Catra asks, sincerely.

“Yeah, I’m fine… I just can’t shake the feeling that something unexpected is going to happen and I’m not going to be prepared for it.”

“Well, if something does, I’ll be right there with you to help us navigate through it, thick and thin. I promise...” Catra responds with more sincerity. 

“Thanks, it means a lot to know I have someone looking out for me while I have to look out for everyone else” Adora responds with levity. 

“Where are we going anyway? I wanna kick some evil Brightmoon ass!” Catra exclaims loud enough for everyone to hear.

“My dossier says we are to disembark from our ship, split into pairs and use the skiffs to patrol the farming village of Estravon, it’s right on the edge of the Whispering Woods.”

“Ooh, we get to form pairs? I assume I’m yours?” Catra asks with a mildly playful tone.

“Well, uh, actually… I was thinking of pairing up with Lonnie-” Adora teases Catra. They both already know they are paired together. After all, Adora got to choose the pairings.

“Shut up, stupid. You’re going with me whether you want to or not. No Force Captain badge is gonna stop me.” 

“Yeah, I know, silly. Our names are together right here on this sheet, see?” Adora holds out the list of name pairings for Catra to gaze upon in case she needed physical proof of Adora’s friendship. 

Catra lets out a chuckle, “alright, alright, let’s just go already. I’m anxious to get on the ground.”

As soon as Catra ends that sentence, a massive explosion rocks the ship. Adora and her squad are knocked off balance, sending them all to the floor. 

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Catra asks Adora through the smoke and alarms. 

“Brightmoon must have known we were coming and fired a mortar at us… our ship is going to crash land in the Whispering Woods,” Adora says, trying to remain calm. She and everybody else on board can feel their ship spiraling as it falls out of the sky. 

Adora stands up among the smoke, carnage and beeping alarms and yells out “EVERYBODY BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

Both Catra and Adora instinctively reach for each other and hold on to one another for dear life as they lay on the floor of the falling ship. Suddenly, a large portion of the ship’s ceiling panel falls flat on both of them, knocking them unconscious, but nevertheless providing them with shielding. 

As Adora slowly opens her eyes, she hears Catra anxiously crying out her name, muffled at first but eventually returning to normal. Soon enough, Adora is sitting up in the mud amongst flaming wreckage, finding herself covered in silt and grime, staring at Catra, her leg bleeding a bit more than she would like, given the situation.

“Oh, Adora, you scared the shit out of me.” Catra says as she grabs Adora’s back to hug her, “I thought you died.”

“I think I’m fine… my leg hurts a little bit… how long have I been out?” Adora just now realizes that it was almost second moonset, and they were scheduled to disembark hours before.

“At least 2 hours, that’s how long I’ve been awake,” Catra answers.

“Are you okay? How are you feeling? Where is everyone else? Is someone coming to rescue us?”

“Adora… everyone else is dead. I spent the last 2 hours walking around the wreckage trying to find survivors, but, no one did…” Catra pauses briefly to reflect on her emotions, mostly on how she doesn’t care that everyone else has died, as long as Adora is still alive.

“...as for me, I’m fine. Pretty sure I have a concussion and my arm has a gash but other than that I feel fine.” 

“Everyone’s DEAD?” Adora asks, shocked and saddened. This is exactly what she feared most. Her worst-case scenario. The absolutely horrible outcome she was trying so hard to prevent. She can’t help but feel the deaths of the people she had trained with… no, the people she GREW UP with, are all her fault. 

“Yeah, I know. It’s a lot to process,” Catra sits down in front of Adora, putting her hands over her shoulders. “...and I don’t think anyone is coming for us either. I’m pretty sure every other ship that was with us was either shot down or is busy in Alwyn. Our best bet is to start walking. You think you can manage with that leg?” 

“I think I’m fine. Are you sure everyone else is dead? Maybe they are just unconscious? Did you check for pulses?” Adora beleaguers Catra with questions as she desperately tries to convince herself that the worst hasn’t actually happened.

“Adora… you don’t want to see. Trust me, they are dead. There’s no need to check for pulses. I’m... sorry.” Catra was never good at consoling. Adora leans into Catra’s left shoulder and starts crying. 

“It’s all my fault… I should have been prepared for this… I’m sorry.”

“Hey, this was NOT your fault. You have NOTHING to apologise for. Those Brightmoon assholes did this, not you. So, instead of moping around, let’s get moving before the wild animals find this place.” 

Adora crinkles out a few more sobs and sniffles, sits upright, looks into Catra’s mismatched eyes, and gives an affirming “Okay.”

Adora stands up with the help of Catra, stumbles at first from light-headedness, and gradually figures out how to walk with her leg injury-induced limp. She thinks it’s broken, or at least sprained. She hopes once they can get to Alwyn they can find a Horde medical team. 

“Do you even know which way you are going? Which way is north? We really should get to Alwyn to find the rest of the Horde...” Adora plasters Catra.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure, and we’ll eventually get there. Don’t worry. Stay concerned about your leg. I might have to wrap it with my shirt…” Catra answers, annoyed but understanding of Adora’s concerns. 

As the two walk through the crashed ship’s carnage, Catra makes several attempts to avert Adora’s eyes from the blood and gore strewn about their path. Blood and gore that used to be their squad. She knows Adora isn’t some child, but she still feels like she needs to protect her from seeing this. She doesn’t deserve it. She’s been through enough. Whether it be a distraction, a conversation, or straight up telling her to close her eyes, she does it. She would stop, but Adora listens to her direction each time. For that reason alone, she doesn’t want to stop anytime soon. The two keep walking deeper into the woods, Adora using Catra for support, emotionally and physically. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“I can’t believe the STUPID Horde had to show up and ruin our STUPID evening!” Glimmer shouts out, frustrated. “We didn’t even get to see the game START before they told us to evacuate.” 

“...and, the reason we aren’t back in the castle yet is?” Bow asks with no subtlety.

“I’m just gonna be sent here tomorrow to help clean up and console the victims anyway…” Glimmer begins, “I don’t want to drain my powers too much. We can just stay at one of the royal cottages in the Whispering Woods. It’s not that far from here, just a little bit east of Estravon, but it’s secluded. We’ll be fine.” 

“Well, can we go now, then? All this Horde business has made me a bit tired...” Bow lies through his teeth. He isn’t tired, he is far too excited. He gets to spend an entire night ALONE in a cottage with Glimmer? This is finally his chance to confess his love to her. He can’t wait. 

“Yeah, I just have to let my mom know what we are doing. Let me call her, I’ll be right back.” 

Bow figures Glimmer is going to tell her mom that he caught a train back to Brightmoon Castle. He is well aware of the King and Queen’s skepticism towards him. After all, she IS a princess, and he is just a boy who carries around arrows. He watches from afar as Glimmer speaks to her mother on her tablet, not sure what else he is supposed to do at that moment. About a minute later, Glimmer returns to where Bow is standing in the empty, dark street. 

“So my mom is fine with me using the cottage, we just have to be careful because a Horde ship crashed in the woods near there.” 

“Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean we can always teleport home now and take the train back here tomorrow.” Bow answers with a hint of nervousness.

“It’s fine, Bow. My mom told me the surveyors said no one survived the crash. Besides, the trains to Alwyn aren’t going to be running tomorrow anyway, they shut down when the Horde attacks,” Glimmer answers, seemingly unalarmed by everything that has happened tonight. “Now come on, let’s go.”

Glimmer grabs Bow’s hand, and a split second later they disappear from where they were standing. Without failure, they immediately find themselves in the middle of an extravagant royal cottage. 

“Wow, this place is nice,” Bow says, staring at the massive light fixture hanging down from the ceiling.

“It’s not my favourite vacation spot but it’ll do in a pinch,” Glimmer says, unaware of how posh she just sounded. She tries to avoid sounding like that in front of Bow, but sometimes her lifestyle gets the better of her. She likes him and doesn’t want to scare him away by acting like a brat. 

Bow, not paying attention to what Glimmer said AT ALL, cannot stop thinking about how he is going to tell Glimmer how he feels. 

“Hey Bow, wanna go for a walk in the woods?” Glimmer asks, seemingly out of nowhere. 

“Uh, sure? Why though, isn’t it a bit dark outside? Aren’t there wild animals?” Bow is not opposed, but he questions her thought process.

“I just need some fresh forest air. I want one thing tonight to be enjoyable. Plus, you have your bow. Just shoot to kill!” Glimmer says, half-jokingly. 

“Alright, I could use some air too. Let’s go.” Bow could not be more thrilled at this point. No distractions, just him, Glimmer, the moonlight and some trees. This is his chance to finally tell her how he feels.

____________________________________________________________________________

As Adora and Catra stumble through the dark woods under the moonlight, they begin to realize they will soon need to find a place to rest. Eventually, they see in the distance a small cabin along a dirt path, with only a single light and a plume of smoke coming from the chimney to indicate any life exists inside. 

“Catra, I think we should stop. I’m not gonna be able to make it much further.” Adora says, half asleep, leaning heavily into Catra’s arm. Catra won’t admit it but she is probably more tired than Adora is at this point. She’d keep walking if that’s what Adora wanted, though. That’s just who she is. 

“Yeah, okay. We need to rest. But maybe there isn’t the best place for us? If we walk inside with our Horde uniforms they are going to call the authorities or try to fight us. I really, really don’t want to deal with that.” Catra answers, fully aware that any contact with civilians will only create more trouble for them. Before walking any further, they both stop. 

“Alright, we take off anything that has The Horde’s insignia on it. Rip it off if you have to.” Adora’s plan seems solid, and Catra realizes that she deserves a warm bed, not the cold ground, so she obliges. 

Adora removes her Force Captain badge, her jacket, and her shirt’s name tag. Catra removes her wristbands, her headpiece and her uniform top, leaving only her white undershirt. They don’t look like average Brightmoon citizens, but they don’t give away the fact they are from The Horde. Hopefully, to whoever is inside the cabin, they appear as lost hikers who were attacked by wild animals. 

“You ready? What are we going to tell whoever is inside?” Catra asks.

“I figured we could say we got lost and were attacked by wild animals,” Adora answers.

“Smart. Hopefully they’ll let us stay the night at least. It’d be amazing if they have medical supplies, you look like you might need stitches.” 

“Well, if they don’t, we can keep going until we find some sort of communication device and request an extraction tomorrow,” Adora says, determined to find any way to make it out of this. 

Adora and Catra keep walking towards the cabin. They slowly but surely walk up the hill and find themselves standing at the door. Both of them are hesitant to knock. 

“You wanna knock or should I?” Catra asks. 

“I’ll do it.” Adora says, putting her hand out and forming a knuckle. Just before her hand can touch the wood of the door, it opens inward. A short old woman with pink, wrinkly skin is standing before them, broom in hand. She seems confused at first, but then forms a big smile. 

“Ahh, Adora, dearie. It’s about time you showed up. Come in, Madame Razz has been waiting for you. I just prepared dinner!” The old woman turns around and walks inside. 

Adora and Catra remain in the doorway, looking at each other with dumbfounded eyes, mouths hanging open, like they had just seen a ghost. Catra whispers to her “HOW IN THE FUCK DOES SHE KNOW YOUR NAME, ADORA?” 

Adora whispers back “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? I TOOK MY NAMETAG OFF, DIDN’T I?”

They both are hesitant to enter the home, and even contemplate running away. But before any of their ideas can come to fruition, the old woman shouts from her kitchen “Come on in, girls. The soup is warm and I have medicine for you both.” 

Adora and Catra quietly fight over who should go in first. Eventually, Adora pushes Catra into the room and she follows close behind. First and foremost, they want to find out what is going on. 

“Uh, ma’am? How did you know my name?” Adora asks, unsure of what any potential response would be. 

“Don’t be silly, Adora. You and Catra come by here all the time! Now help Madame Razz with the bowls. The soup will get cold!” 

“Okay, look lady. We don’t know you and you don’t know us so how could you possibly know our names? TELL US!” Catra snaps, fully aware of how threatening she sounds. 

“Catra, don’t yell at her. She’s not a threat. I don’t think, anyway…” Adora responds, trying to keep the situation calm and under control. 

“Oh, dearie me. This is the first time again. I forgot, you girls don’t know Madame Razz yet. Here, sit down and eat your soup!” Madame Razz vibrantly hands the now sitting girls 2 bowls of hot soup.

“Adora, don’t eat that. You don’t know what she put in that,” Catra says in an attempt to protect Adora. Suddenly, Razz gently whacks Catra on the head with her broom. Catra shouts an unwarranted “OW!” and hisses at the old woman. 

“You both eat the soup before it gets cold! Madame Razz does not like to waste food!”

“Listen, Madame Razz? We were just looking for somewhere to spend the night… see we were attacked by wild animals in the woods and-”

“Oh, don’t be silly, dearie. You told me about the ship crash many times.”   
“LOOK, IF YOU DON’T TELL US HOW YOU KNOW ALL THIS STUFF SOON, SOMEONE IS GETTING CLAWS TO THE FACE!” Catra snaps again, now standing up, much more frustrated than before. She tends to let out her frustration by threatening physical violence. Adora knows she doesn’t really mean it. 

“Catra, stop. You’re scaring her, she won’t tell us anything if she’s scared” Adora says as she tries to calm Catra down. She’s always been able to. As soon as Catra hears Adora’s calm voice, she immediately resumes her normal tone and sits back down. 

“I’m sorry. Please, tell us how you know who we are.” Catra says, much more calm than before. Adora looks at her and lets out a smile as she slurps down the soup. 

“You girls must be very confused. I’m sorry, I don’t really know when I am anymore, my mind slips as I get older.” 

“What does any of that mean?” Adora asks, trying to sound polite, but is increasingly becoming frustrated at the woman’s vague responses. 

“I never really know when I exist, dearie. I just go whenever time decides to put me.” 

“So, you don’t experience time linearly?” Catra asks, thinking she understands what the crazy woman is trying to say. Catra has no idea how this is possible, but she has no idea how else to explain what’s going on. 

“You could say that, dearie.”

“But wait, that still doesn’t explain how you know us. How did you know we were in a crash?” Adora asks, seeking as much information as possible. 

“You two come by here all the time, dearie. At least, whenever you aren’t busy with She-Ra. OH! Madame Razz has your sword, too! I kept it safe all these years, just for you!”

“A-a sword? Who is She-Ra? You aren’t making any sense!” Adora stutters, still unsure of what is going on. If anything, she feels like she has less information than when she started. 

“Madame Razz, what is going on? We obviously have no idea what is, but you do. Please, for the love of EVERYTHING, give us something” Catra asks, on her last nerve. 

“Oh, hang on, I’ll be right back” Razz says as she turns around and hurries into another room.

“Catra, what is going on?” Adora asks, borderline scared of what is about to happen next. 

“I don’t know, Adora. I think she’s getting something. Maybe that’ll help explain whatever is going on.”

Just then, Madame Razz reenters the room, wielding a large, silver sword with a glowing gem encrusted in the handle. 

Handing it to Adora, she says, “For you, dearie. Touch the sword and you will know what you want to know.” 

Adora grabs the handle of the sword and holds it upright. Suddenly, the gem’s glow becomes very bright, sending out a flash, knocking Adora to the floor unconscious, still holding the sword in her hand. 

Catra becomes defensive and pins Razz to the wall. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? WAKE HER UP!”


	3. Nice Espionage Skills, Bow

Adora, suddenly finding herself inside her own mind, calls out into an empty lavender abyss. 

“Hello? What happened? Where am I?”

Almost immediately, a mysterious woman appears before her. She is dressed in ancient clothing, at least a foot taller than Adora, and is staring into the abyss beyond both of them. She takes a moment, then looks down at Adora. 

“Hello, I am the Light Hope Operating System, an artificial intelligence designed by the Earth Space Agency to facilitate and serve those chosen to carry the sword of She-Ra, the Princess of Power. How may I assist you?”

Adora has absolutely no idea what to do with this information. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what is going on… my name is Adora, I’m just trying to look for a place to rest my leg-” Adora suddenly realizes that she is standing on both legs with no pain or blood. 

“Yes, Adora. I have been expecting you. You have been chosen by the Earth Space Agency to carry the Sword of Protection and fight for Etheria as She-Ra, the Princess of Power. You probably have many questions. Ask as many questions as you would like, and I will try to answer them. Afterwards, I will begin the process of bonding the Sword’s runestone to your physical body.”

“I was chosen? Who is the Earth Space Agency? Who is She-Ra? Why is my leg healed? WHERE AM I?” 

“You are in a simulation designed specifically for She-Ra. Since you touched the Sword of Protection, the nanobots within the sword installed by the Earth Space Agency have entered your bloodstream and have attached to certain areas of your brain. These nanobots act as neurotransmitters which can simulate any environment within your brain.” 

“So I’m in my own brain right now?”

“Correct.”

“Answer my other questions, please.”

“She-Ra, the Princess of Power, is one of many elemental princesses of Etheria that channel their magic through runestones. Seven runestones are known to exist, and you alone now possess the ability to channel the Sword of Protection’s runestone’s magic, a feat no one has been able to do for a thousand years. Your leg injury is not present due to She-Ra’s healing powers. The previous She-Ra before you had hidden away the Sword of Protection in order to prevent any future eligible Earth Space Agency employee from harnessing its power. That is, until you found it. In the thousand years that have passed, no human from Earth remains on this planet, except for you. You are the only person remaining on this planet that is eligible to carry the Sword. So, not only were you chosen by the Sword’s magic to carry it, but you are the ONLY person that can.” 

“What is Earth? Am I from there? Where is it? How did I get here?”

“Earth is a planet located approximately 2.54 million light years away from Etheria, a distance easily traversable in seconds via Earth Space Agency wormholes. That is, before the Earth Space Agency enacted Despondos Protocol one thousand years ago. During this time, a force known as “The Horde” was attempting to invade Etheria in order to steal the magic housed in its core. In order to protect the galaxy, the ESA sent Etheria through a portal into an empty dimension where the Horde could not access it. You may have heard of this event, the residents of this planet refer to the incident as “The Day the Stars Disappeared.” However, 18 years ago, another portal opened in the sky above Etheria and a large Horde ship came through it. Since then, a faction of the Horde has been growing and invading different areas of this planet. As for you, a quick scan of your DNA suggests you have two parents who are fully Earth human. These fully human people from Earth are referred to as “First Ones” by most Etherians today. I can not answer your last question as I do not know how or why you are in this location at this time. I have been alone, observing Etheria’s behaviours for the last thousand years. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever serve another She-Ra again. Now you are here, and it is my job to aid you in your journey of becoming the protector of Etheria. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?”

Adora, having received an absurd amount of jaw-dropping information, cannot find any thought process that would develop more questions. Other than one.

“I’m… a First One?”

“Correct. You are the daughter and direct descendant of two humans originating from Earth.”

“...and I, I’m supposed to carry She-Ra’s Sword?”

“Correct. You have been chosen by the Sword of Protection to carry it and defend Etheria’s magic from The Horde.”

“But… I’m from The Horde. The Horde is my home!”

“The Horde you know is a faction of a much larger intergalactic empire. The Horde’s aim is to bring all planets within the galaxy under their control and into complete homogeneity. They plan on using Etheria’s stored magical energy to do so. It is your duty to stop The Horde from advancing their attempts to gain control of this planet.”

“But… that’s not what they told us! They told us we were fighting to liberate the rest of Etheria from unjust monarchies! They told us the princesses were evil! Is that even true?”

“The royal families of Etheria have always been close loyal allies to the Earth Space Agency and have shared similar interests and goals. We do not classify them as ‘enemies’ nor do we deem their actions as criminal.”

“So EVERYTHING I’ve been told my ENTIRE life is a lie?” Adora is on the brink of tears. She cannot believe what she is hearing. Yet, she has to. How else can she explain all of this? Maybe she is dreaming, maybe she’s hallucinating from the crash. Maybe she’s dead. She barely knows anymore.

“Adora, as you continue learning and training with me, you will become more aware of the true state of your environment. Are you ready to begin the bonding process?”

“The what? NO! I want out of this place! I want to wake up from this nightmare! Let me out!”

“Adora, you cannot be released from the simulation until you agree to begin the bonding process. You do not have a choice, this is your destiny. You are She-Ra. You must fight for Etheria, for the Earth Space Agency, and for the honour of Grayskull.”

“What the heck is Grayskull?”

“Grayskull is the name of She-Ra’s Earth Space Agency base, it is located in Brightmoon. By fighting as She-Ra, you choose to honour it and what it stands for. Valour, Protection, and Hope. In order to channel the Sword of Protection’s magic and transform into She-Ra, you must recite Grayskull’s battle cry, which is ‘For the Honour of Grayskull.’ Say these words and the bonding process will complete, you will be released from the simulation, and you will begin your journey.”

Adora, at this point, thinks she is dreaming. Therefore, she believes saying the words will wake her up. 

“Whatever, if it gets me out of here. For the Honour of Grayskull!”

“Bonding process complete. Hello, She-Ra. You will now be released from the simulation. Please report to the Crystal Castle at Grayskull as soon as possible to begin your training.”

Suddenly, everything goes white. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“DID YOU HEAR ME, I SAID WAKE. HER. UP.” Catra yells at Madame Razz.

Adora, lying on the floor, wakes up and groans.

“Adora! Are you okay? What happened?” Catra asks, worried for Adora’s wellbeing.

Adora, not immediately realizing where she is, begins “I had a crazy dream… we met this old lady and I touched a sword and I was an alien and-”

Adora immediately stops when she sees the large silver sword laying next to her on the floor. She looks up and sees the old woman.

“WAIT, THIS IS REAL? IT’S ALL REAL?”

“Adora, calm down… tell me what happened,” Catra tries to calm Adora, a rare role reversal. Adora, now sitting upright, holding the sword in her lap, tries to explain. 

“I touched the sword and then I was inside my own brain and a woman named Light Hope told me I was from another planet and that it was my destiny to transform into a princess using this sword to save Etheria from The Horde.”

“I… uh…”

“Ooh, dearie! Now you know! You are She-Ra!”

“Who’s She-Ra? Is that a princess?” Catra asks, confused.  
“She-Ra is apparently who I’m supposed to turn into whenever I say the words ‘For the Honour of Grayskull’.”

Suddenly, Adora begins glowing. A bright flash of light fills the room and Adora now wears a tiara with a gold and white sparkly outfit, her hair in a completely different fashion and much longer and healthier than what it was before. Adora looks down, scared of what she’ll see, and immediately falls backwards, letting out a shriek.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?” 

“Girls, calm down. She-Ra is who you are now, dearie. You can go back to being Adora but She-Ra is a part of you.”

“I WANT TO GO BACK TO BEING ADORA!” Adora shouts, still scared of herself.

“Yeah, uh, I’d VERY much like that too!” Catra adds, almost vomiting from shock.

“HOW DO I GET RID OF IT?” 

“Relax, dearie. Take a breath and concentrate. Think about Adora, not She-Ra.” 

Adora, as best she can, calms herself down and takes several deep breaths. She tries not to think about what just happened, or what she has experienced over the past few hours. She thinks about being home in The Horde, running around the halls with Catra, trying their best to avoid Shadow Weaver. 

As Adora closes her eyes, she begins glowing again. Before she knows it, she’s back to normal, her leg has healed, and she is no longer tired. Catra leans in for a hug, grateful her best friend is okay.

“Adora, please never do that again,” Catra asks, half joking, half serious. 

“I don’t think I have a choice… the woman in my head… Light Hope… she said it was my destiny to be She-Ra. She said I was chosen, and that I’m the only one on Etheria that can do it.”

Catra pauses to reflect on everything Adora has told her. 

“You mean to tell me The Horde is evil? That we have to save Etheria from them? Weren’t we already saving Etheria WITH The Horde?”  
“Catra… in light of everything that’s happened… I think we seriously need to consider the possibility that The Horde has been lying to us.”

“How is that possible? Why would they do that?”

“All this information I have in my head now… it says that the First Ones were fighting The Horde a thousand years ago, but the First Ones made the stars disappear to hide Etheria’s magic from them. Then, 18 years ago, somehow a small bit of the Horde found Etheria and they’ve been trying to conquer it ever since. I don’t know how I ended up with them, but I'm a First One. My parents are from this planet called Earth… and everything the lady told me, everything I thought I knew about my life, about The Horde… it’s all been a lie. I want to find out the truth, and I want you to help me…”

“Of course I’m gonna help you, dummy. But how do you suggest we do that?”

“Light Hope told me before I woke up that I needed to report to the Crystal Castle at Grayskull as soon as possible to begin my training. I think we should start there.”

“Where is Grayskull?”

“It’s… in Brightmoon. We have to go farther into Brightmoon.” Adora lets out a sigh. She still has sour feelings towards Brightmoon since they tried to kill her not even 6 hours ago. 

“WHAT? No way. We can’t go to Brightmoon, they’ll kill us!”

“They won’t kill us, Catra. Besides, I can just transform into She-Ra to prove to them I’m not with The Horde.”

“Then they’ll spare you and kill me!”

“Catra, The Horde has been lying to us. The First Ones were allies with the kingdoms. They aren’t bad people.”

Catra takes a long moment to think over her options. She comes to realize that Adora is going to do this no matter what, and she is not going to leave her side for a second. After all, she promised her she wouldn’t. 

“We’re really going to abandon The Horde, aren’t we?” Catra takes a somber tone as she realizes the seriousness behind what they are about to do. They are about to leave their entire lives behind in pursuit of something neither of them understand.... at least, not yet, anyway. 

“I think we have to, Catra. We don’t have much of a choice. I need to know what is happening to me, and this seems like the best way to find out.”

“Alright, then I’m staying with you. Thick and thin, right?”

“Thick and thin.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Alright, this is it. Now is the time to tell her how you really feel, Bow. Don’t back out now, you’ve got this. Just tell her straightforward how you-” Bow’s thoughts are interrupted by a strange noise coming from the distance.

“What was that?” Bow asks.

“It sounded like… yelling?” Glimmer answers, unsure of herself.

“Think we should check it out? Somebody might be in trouble…” Bow asks Glimmer for permission before charging headfirst into a potentially dangerous situation.

“It came from over there,” Glimmer points to a dim glow of light in the distance beyond the trees, “take my hand, I’ll get us there faster.”

Bow takes Glimmer’s hand, and with that, they find themselves on the doorstep of a cabin. They both walk up to it, curious about what is happening inside but cautious of any potential danger. 

Glimmer whispers to Bow, “go look around the cabin to see if you can find anything or see anyone, I’m gonna try and look through a window.”

Bow nods in agreement and hustles off to do a perimeter sweep around the cabin. Glimmer finds a window on the other side of the cabin, ducks around it, and peers through. She sees three people, an old lady, a magicat, and another girl wearing gold and white with a glowing tiara situated among beautiful golden hair, holding a sword. Glimmer pauses to think for a moment, “who is this person?” She keeps watching through the window, and after the elderly woman says something too muffled for her to make out, the glowing girl glows brighter and transforms into a seemingly normal girl with a ponytail and a white uniform shirt. It takes her a second, but the realization of what she just saw hits her like a ton of bricks.

“Oh shit...”

Glimmer had heard the stories of She-Ra before, but she always thought she was either some sort of myth or some ancient long defunct princess that would never return. After all, she hadn’t been seen in a THOUSAND years. 

Glimmer convinces herself there is no way that wasn’t what she just witnessed. She pinched herself multiple times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, and after she was fairly sure she wasn’t, she whispered for Bow to come back over.

Bow, having finished searching around the cabin, walks back toward Glimmer, holding several garments. 

“Uhh, Glimmer, I found… these.”

Bow proceeds to hold up several pieces of clothing with Horde insignias on them. To Glimmer, they appear to match what the girls inside the cabin were wearing. 

Glimmer takes her palm to her face and lets out an annoyed, “Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me right now.” 

“Did you find out what’s going on inside the cabin?” Bow asks, genuinely not sure of what is happening. 

“Yeah, um,” Glimmer tries to hold back frustrated laughter caused by the sheer absurdity of the situation she found herself in. “She-Ra is in there, and apparently she’s a Horde soldier.” 

Bow looks puzzled at first, but then lets out a chuckle. Bow, knowing full well who She-Ra is (his fathers are historians), cannot possibly believe what Glimmer is saying. The only explanation is that she is joking. 

“Haha, yeah, okay, but seriously, what is going on… do I need to draw my weapon?”

“Bow, I’m being serious right now. She-Ra is in there. I saw her. I don’t know how or why but she is in there and I have no idea what to do now.”

Bow’s delight quickly turns into a slight panic. His face turns from a smile to a look of fear. He absolutely cannot believe what he is hearing but knows that if Glimmer is telling the truth they might be in serious danger. 

“Glimmer, you need to tell me right now, are you telling the truth, because if you are we need to do something.”

“Bow, I’m being 100% truthful when I tell you that She-Ra is inside that cabin and her and her friend are probably the ones that own those Horde clothes. I watched her detransform into some blonde girl.”

Normally, Bow isn’t one to curse. But given the situation, he can’t help it.  
“Shit.”

“Yeah, um, what should we do? I really don’t want to fight She-Ra of all people tonight. “

“Maybe we go inside, pretend to be lost in the woods and ask for directions?” Bow suggests.

“Or we just teleport back to the Castle and warn literally everybody about what we know,” Glimmer suggests in response. 

“Glimmer, if this is real, we need to be ABSOLUTELY sure. I mean, we CANNOT have any wrong information. You understand?”

Glimmer lets out a long sigh as she realizes how right Bow is. He’s literally always like this. She loves that about him. Regardless, she’s about to do something she REALLY doesn’t want to do. Glimmer knows no one will recognize Bow, but she can’t be certain for herself. After all, she IS a princess. The best she can do is hope that no one immediately recognizes her.

“Alright, let’s go knock.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“...thick and thin, right?”

“Thick and thin.”

Just then, someone knocks on the door. 

“Adora, who is that?” Catra asks.

“Oh, Adora, dearie, could you get that? Your friends are here!”

Friends?

“Uh, yeah Razz, sure.” Adora stands up, walks toward the door, and hesitantly opens it, fearful that it might be someone after her and Catra. 

All of a sudden, Glimmer is staring at Adora, knowing exactly who she is about to talk to. She nervously gulps and begins “Hi, we were walking in the woods and we uh, got a little lost… is there someone here that can help us out?”  
Before Adora has the chance to say anything, Madame Razz yells out from the kitchen.

“Glimmer! Bow! Come on in, I have soup for you!”

Both Glimmer and Bow have absolutely no idea how this old woman knows their names. Adora assumes that Razz knows them, so she lets them in without saying anything. Soon enough, Glimmer, Bow, Catra and Adora are all standing together silently in Madame Razz’s cabin. 

Madame Razz walks back into the room where they are all conjugated.

“Bow! Madame Razz made you your favourite soup, with a boiled egg, just how you like it! Glimmer, here is your soup, no meat, only vegetables.”

They both give each other an even more confused look. How did she know Bow likes boiled eggs? How did she know Glimmer was a vegetarian? HOW DID SHE KNOW THEIR NAMES?

“Uh, ma’am, I’m sorry for asking but, how do you know our names? Why do you know I like boiled eggs?”

Catra immediately turns to Adora, but Adora is already looking at Catra. They both have literally just gone through this same ordeal with themselves. Catra is the first to break the tension.

“I’m sorry, but, who are you two, exactly?”

Madame Razz interjects before either of them can respond. 

“Oh, don’t be silly dearie. They are your best friends! Why do you not recognize- oh… is this still the FIRST time? Oh, silly me. They are Bow and Princess Glimmer! They come from Brightmoon Castle!”

Catra claws up and defensively asks, “you’re a princess?”

“You’re from Brightmoon Castle?” Adora asks with a more calm tone.

“One of you, tell me what’s going on!” Catra demands loudly.

Bow caves, “Okay! Okay! We heard yelling and came to investigate, Glimmer says she saw you as She-Ra and I found Horde clothes outside! We had to find out what was happening, please don’t hurt us!”

Nice espionage skills, Bow.

Glimmer steps out, staring down Adora. She holds a bright ball of magical energy in her fist, ready to throw it if need be. “Now YOU tell US what’s going on! Why does this woman know our names? How are you She-Ra? What is The Horde planning?”

Adora, trying to relieve the tension of the standoff, sits down. 

“Catra, please put your claws away. They know. There’s no point in fighting them.”

Catra does as instructed and lets Adora speak to the two sparkly people before them.

“We WERE with The Horde, but our ship crashed. We wandered through the woods until we found this place, but Madame Razz here already knew who we were. She experiences time in a weird way, she’s already lived this day several times, somehow. I don’t know, that’s not that important. But apparently I’m the last remaining First One on this planet and I have been chosen to carry the Sword of She-Ra to defend Etheria’s magic from The Horde. Crazy, I know. I’m still processing it myself. I literally JUST found this out before you walked in. So please, relax, and if you can, help us. I need to get to Grayskull as soon as possible. Do you know where that is?”

Glimmer, shocked by everything she just heard, cannot seem to find words to respond with.

“I know where it is,” Bow breaks the silence with a serious tone, “my fathers are historians, I know a lot about First Ones history.”

“Can you take us there?” Adora asks, hopeful. 

“Yes, I think we can, but…”

“But what?” Catra interrupts.

“...but I think we should take you to Brightmoon Castle first. You REALLY ought to meet the King and Queen.”

“Agreed,” Glimmer says, over the initial shock and finally able to comprehend what is going on. “My parents will want to meet you first. This is unprecedented.”

“Whatever you think is best, we’ll do it,” Adora tells them, “I want to do this right and I have no idea what to do.”  
“How soon can we get to Brightmoon Castle? I’m really, really tired…” Catra states.

“Oh, trust me, we’ll be there in a flash.” Glimmer says, making herself laugh.

Bow knows exactly what that means. He places a hand on Glimmer’s shoulder and holds out his other hand for Adora to grab. It takes her a second, but she eventually does. She then holds out her other hand for Catra to take, which she does immediately. Before Glimmer does her thing, Adora speaks.

“Thank you Razz. We’ll be back soon.”

Madame Razz smiles and nods, not completely aware of exactly what is happening. 

“Okay, people, let’s go to Brightmoon!” Glimmer cheerfully exclaims. She takes one last look to make sure everyone is holding hands, and whisks them away to her home, quite literally, in a flash.


	4. Royal Meeting

As the second moon rises over the former kingdom of Skyland, a grieving Shadow Weaver is summoned into the head clone’s command centre, the room that supposedly only clones are allowed inside of, being that their hive mind extension resides within it. 

The head clone speaks, “Shadow Weaver, I understand you have suffered a great loss during the failed invasion of Alwyn. Nevertheless, Prime is merciful, and he has decided to show you pity. You will be temporarily relieved of your duties to give yourself enough time to gather your own thoughts and prepare for a new role within our organization.”

“Thank you, and glory be to Horde Prime.”

Shadow Weaver, holding back tears behind her mask, is almost inaudible in saying this. It has been less than a day since she received word of her squad’s crashed ship, and of Adora and Catra’s status as “Missing In Action, Presumed Dead”. While she may have always tried to distance herself from the two girls she was charged to care for, she can’t help but feel sad that any hopes she had for them, any plans she made for them, any future moments they could have shared together… are now gone, potentially forever. She was never one for family, but, if she had to pick, Adora and Catra would be hers, even if they didn’t want her. In some form, she loved them. In her own twisted way, she wanted the best for them, and she failed. She is angry at herself for this.

“I am temporarily promoting Force Captain Scorpia to assume your position, so please hand over to her any important documents or information she may need to properly do her tasks. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, I will do so immediately.”

As Shadow Weaver makes her way through the grey hallways near the Cadet Hall, she can almost hear the laughter of Adora and Catra as they chase each other aimlessly. That was one thing that she knew was not allowed but never minded seeing. She would give anything to have the ability to stop and scold them for their mischief right now. As she neared her working quarters, she noticed a very tall, very buff looking woman standing in her doorway. She never had met Scorpia before, so she didn’t know what she looked like.

“Ahem, who are you?” Shadow Weaver asks, trying to maintain her intimidating factor through her suffering.

“Oh, hi. I’m Scorpia. I’ve been assigned to cover your duties for the next week. I just figured I’d swing by and pick up anything I needed from you,” Scorpia says with a much too cheery tone.

Shadow Weaver leads her inside and sits down in her corner chair. Scorpia’s cheerfulness is only causing her more pain. 

“Everything you need is in the second drawer from the top,” she says as she points at her desk.

As Scorpia opens the drawer, taking out a handful of documents and examining them, she doesn’t notice Shadow Weaver breaking down in the corner. 

“Awesome, thanks. I suppose you don’t have the-” she stops as soon as she sees Shadow Weaver’s hands covering her face, muffling her sobs.

“...what’s wrong?”

“My girls are gone… and it’s my fault. I was too careless and I got them killed. I just wanted to give them some field experience, I thought they were ready. I would give anything to stop myself from giving them that mission.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Scorpia is now bending down with her arm over Shadow Weaver’s shoulder. 

“I was just surveying their crash site this morning. Adora and Catra weren’t there, which makes me think they are still alive. I’m sure you’ll get to see them again soon.”

“They are what?” Shadow Weaver has stopped crying and is now entirely focused on Scorpia. 

“I can’t say FOR SURE but they were the only two bodies we didn’t recover. Not a trace of them at all. I think they got away.”

“You’re telling me they’re ALIVE?” Shadow Weaver is now filled with such a mix of emotions that even she cannot comprehend how she’s feeling.

“If I had to guess, yes.”

Shadow Weaver immediately stands up and runs back to the chamber where the head clone is. 

“Brother, excuse me, but, I have on good authority that two of my squad members are still alive, I am requesting you give me a mode of transport and a small team to take with me to extract them.”

“I am sorry, Shadow Weaver, but I cannot allow that. We cannot risk more casualties for the sake of two squad members who may or MAY NOT be alive. You are to forget this little side quest and return to your quarters immediately. No further discussion. You are dismissed.”

Shadow Weaver is now angry. She has never felt such anger in her life. Not when she was expelled from Mystacor, not when she was imprisoned in Brightmoon for dark craft, and not even when she found out she was assigned to care for two young girls. As the head clone turns around to ignore her, she conjures a harming spell and throws it at him. 

The head clone falls to ground, saying angrily “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I WILL HAVE YOU SENT TO BEAST ISLA-”

Shadow Weaver barrages him again with spells, cutting off his threat. She conjures up another spell, which sends a shockwave of magic throughout the entire room. She didn’t intend to cause so much destruction, but her emotions have gotten the better of her. She holds back anything more until the clone is able to speak.

“Where… where am I? Why can I not connect to the hive mind? What has happened here?”

Uh oh.

“I’m sorry, you cannot do what?” Shadow Weaver asks, still holding her next spell in case she needs to use it. 

“I cannot connect to Horde Prime’s hive mind. What did you do to me?”

“I.. uh…” Shadow Weaver has no idea what she just did. 

“I don’t know what I did to you.”

“Why were you attacking me? Was I harming you or others?”

“You just refused to allow me to rescue two of my squad members, one of whom is a FORCE CAPTAIN, who are stranded somewhere in Brightmoon.”

“Why would I do that? That sounds like a horrible situation!”

“You just told me it wasn’t worth the risk.”

“Well, I can assure you, I do NOT feel the same way now. Why do I feel this way? I am not supposed to have my own feelings. Why is this happening to me?”

“Whatever I did to you out of my frustration must have destroyed your connection to the hive mind. Are you going to let me rescue my children or not?”

Her children. Shadow Weaver doesn’t realize the impact those words hold until she says them out loud. Without hesitation, even… and she actually likes it. 

“Yes, by all means, go rescue the stranded soldiers” the newly freed clone states with a confused yet urgent tone. 

As Shadow Weaver turns around to walk away, the clone cries out. 

“Wait! I still don’t know what I am to do now! If I go with you, perhaps I can gather my own thoughts and find a suitable solution.”

Gather his own thoughts? What is he saying? He’s not supposed to even HAVE his own thoughts!

“If you want to help me rescue Force Captain Adora and Cadet Catra, that is your choice. But I will NOT be held responsible should something happen to you.”

“I agree, and I will help you. You are the one who disconnected me, perhaps I shall gain insight from you to think of a solution.”

“We have no time to waste, then. You are the commander in chief here, but I am the director of this mission. Understand?”

“I understand. Let us go, I prefer to begin my analysis of your magic as quickly as possible. Horde Prime will be upset if I remain unconnected for too long.”

With that, the two set off for the ship hangars to begin their journey to rescue Adora and Catra. Before they reach the hangars, however, Shadow Weaver finds Scorpia.

“Force Captain Scorpia, I require your assistance. I need you to fly us to Brightmoon on a classified rescue mission.”

“Um, I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t do that. You don’t have the authority and even if you did you have been temporarily relieved of duty. I’d first need a higher ranking official to put in a formal request.”

“Do I rank high enough?” the clone says as he peers out from behind Shadow Weaver.

Scorpia gulps.

“Oh, yes, brother. I very much apologize, I did not see you there. I am at your disposal. I’ll fly you anywhere you need to go.”

With that, the three set out for the hangars. As they walk through the grey hallways, Shadow Weaver brings up a concern of hers.

“To make things easier for all of us, I should give you a name. I cannot refer to you as ‘brother’ constantly.”

“It is wrong to have a name, a name is only reserved for Prime himself and the top generals he deems fit. However, if you insist, I see no harm.”

“How about… Hordak? You are a Horde clone, and you made a horrible “ACK” sound as you hit the floor after I smothered you with magic.” 

Shadow Weaver still remains youthfully humorous, even with her old age. 

“If you deem it fit, I see no reason for argument. My name, from now on, shall be Hordak.”

____________________________________________________________________________

As the second moon rises over Brightmoon’s luxurious castle, Adora and Catra awake from their well-deserved slumber in their shared guest room. It had been so late when they arrived at the castle the previous evening that they did not want to wake the King and Queen, so they all deemed it best to wait until morning to unload the news. As Adora and Catra remove themselves from their beds, they hear a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Catra yells.

Bow and Glimmer proceed to walk through the large door opened by the guards they ordered to keep watch all night (they are still fairly cautious over letting two Horde soldiers be alone within the castle walls).

“So, are you two ready to meet the King and Queen of Brightmoon?” Bow asks, fairly excited.

“Is that what you are gonna wear?” Glimmer asks, a bit flustered. Adora and Catra remain in the same clothes they have been in since yesterday.

“Well, princess, it’s not like we have much of a choice, we didn’t bring a wardrobe with us,” Catra says with visible agitation.

“It’s fine, Glimmer,” Bow says, “what they are wearing now will help add to the story we are going to tell your parents. They’d be a bit more confused if they were wearing Brightmoon clothes.” 

“Fair point. Come on, let’s go,” Glimmer says, eager to see her parents’ reaction.

“Are you sure they aren’t going to hurt us or imprison us?” Adora, staring at her reflection in the sword, asks with complete sincerity.

“Don’t worry, Adora. We won’t let that happen.” Glimmer says, trying to put Adora at ease.

“What if they don’t like us? What if-” 

“Hey, Adora, cool it. We’ll be fine. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it the right way, remember?” Catra says as she attempts to keep Adora from worrying so much.

“Yeah, don’t worry, Adora. I’m sure they’ll love you both…” Bow says in response.

As the group nears the throne room, they pass by several confused-looking guards. Adora understands, though. She’d be confused too if Brightmoon soldiers were walking around The Horde with Shadow Weaver. When the group reaches the massive doors, Glimmer says to the guards with overconfidence, “OPEN ‘EM UP!”

Adora and Catra stare ahead as the doors open into a massive, brightly coloured room. As they walk inside, situated between Bow on the left and Glimmer on the right, they feel a sense of atomity. 

“What is it, Glimmer? We are very busy this morning. We are all going to go to Alwyn to help in any way we can,” Angella states.

“Well, Mom, you’re gonna have to put that off. We have something AMAZING for you that’s probably gonna take up your whole morning.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna have to be the one to deal with this?” Micah asks Glimmer with a bit of a joking attitude.

“Well, Mom, Dad, last night Bow and I were walking in the Whispering Woods together and we-”

“I’m sorry, you were what?” Angella asks, more concerned over Bow and Glimmer being alone together than anything else Glimmer has to say. 

“You told me he took the train home.”

“Yeah well, I lied, I’m sorry. But it’s a GREAT thing I did, because otherwise we wouldn’t have this to show you.”

“Why is she carrying a sword?” Micah asks.

“Okay, well, last night Bow and I were walking in the Whispering Woods and we came across this old lady’s hut. We heard yelling inside so we tried to figure out what was going on. Apparently, these two are from The Horde and their ship crashed nearby. They went walking through the woods until they found that same hut before us, and SOMEHOW, I don’t know, this girl, Adora,” Glimmer pushes her forward, “was chosen to carry the Sword of Protection and become She-Ra. Her friend here, Catra,” she then pushes Catra forward, much to Catra’s dismay, “came with her and they both promised to leave The Horde to figure out what is happening to them.”

Angella and Micah stare at Glimmer for a minute, then at Adora, and then at each other. 

“I… don’t… what?” Micah asks, flabbergasted.

“I know, I know. It’s a lot to process. We just figured you should probably be the first to know that She-Ra is back, and she’s hopefully on our side.”

“I’d like to hear her say that herself,” Angella interjects, staring at Adora.

“I’d also like proof that what you are saying is true.”

“Your majesty,” Adora begins, “I…” she looks at Catra, “WE grew up in The Horde. We thought we were fighting unjust monarchies and liberating Etherian citizens. That’s what we’ve been told since we were old enough to be told anything. I see now that what I’ve been told my whole life is a lie, and now, with this sudden responsibility I have, I want to learn what is right. I need to… and Catra agrees with me. She’s my best friend through all of this…”

Catra smiles a warm smile as she hears Adora say that.

“...and we are ready to do whatever is necessary to fight to protect Etheria from The Horde. As for proof, all I need to do for that is say, ‘For the Honour of Grayskull’.”

As soon as she says that, sword in hand, she begins glowing, and a flash of light takes over the already fairly bright room. All of a sudden, she is standing before the King and Queen, sword at her side, tiara placed firmly on her head, her hair blowing from nonexistent wind, purely by the magic flowing through her. 

Adora, now She-Ra, begins, “I don’t know yet what I am supposed to do or how I am supposed to do it, but I want you to know that I am not your enemy, and I will do whatever it takes to convince you of that.”

Micah and Angella stare in disbelief at what has just happened before their eyes. 

“Uh, Mom? Dad? Say something…”  
Micah snaps out of his trance-like state when he hears his daughter speak.

“Yes, sorry, it’s just… we can’t believe this. It’s been a thousand years since She-Ra has been last seen. There haven’t been any reports of her since the stars disappeared.”

“I remember when the stars disappeared, and I remember the last She-Ra,” Angella begins, “I was a young girl then, and my mother spoke highly of her. I also remember when the First Ones took her magic and gave it to one of their own. The First Ones made the stars disappear because their She-Ra was unable to defeat The Horde. What makes you think you’ll be any different?”

“Your majesty, I don’t have all the answers, but you can be assured, I am not fighting for the First Ones, nor The Horde. I am going to fight for what is right and protect Etheria and its magic at all costs.” As Adora finishes, she detransforms back into herself. 

“How do you even have The Sword of Protection? Who gave it to you? Why are you able to harness its magic?”

“Again, I’m not sure how, but this old lady in the woods, her name is Madame Razz, she said she was saving The Sword for me all this time. When I touched it, I was in this First Ones simulation in my head and a lady told me I was chosen by The Sword because I was the only human from Earth left on Etheria. I don’t know how or why that’s the case, but apparently, it is.”

“So, you mean to tell me that you are not from Etheria? That you come from the same planet as the First Ones?”

“Yes.”

“...and what do you plan to do with all of this new information? You must be quite overwhelmed being that you just learned all of this yesterday.”

“The woman in my head, Light Hope, said I needed to report to the Crystal Castle at Grayskull as soon as possible to begin my training. Can you take me there?”

“Yes, we can… it’s just that…” Angella pauses, then sighs.

“It’s just, what?” Adora asks.

Angella puts her hand over her face in embarrassment. 

“The Grayskull Base is an ancient First Ones structure. We turned it into a museum.”

Catra bursts out laughing hysterically.  
“We saw no other viable use for it!” Angella pleads, almost feeling guilty.

“It’s still intact, though, isn’t it?” Micah asks his wife.

“Yes, everything is kept as it was. It’s just that we offer tours of it now.”

Catra is still laughing uncontrollably. 

Angella calls for one of her servants. 

“Tell the Grayskull Museum curator to remove all of the tourists from the premises and to close down the snackbar indefinitely.”

Catra is on the ground in tears. 

“Someone get her under control, please!” Angella demands of the group of teenagers in front of her.

“Sorry, Mom, won’t happen again… Catra, stand up!” Glimmer demands violently.

As Catra stands up, still giggling, Adora steps forward.

“Your majesties, I don’t know what my training will entail. But I do know that I will need a place to stay, at least for the time being, and I would very much like it if Catra could stay with me, as well.”

“Yes, very well. You two are welcome to stay in one of the castle’s guest rooms,” Micah says.

“Oh, good. We can just stay in the one we were in last night…” Catra interjects.

Angella stares at Bow and Glimmer with anger. 

“You let them stay here last night without telling us?”

“Sorry, Mom, we didn’t get back till late and you guys were already asleep. They seemed trustworthy enough.”

Angella scoffs at her daughter.

“WHAT? We had a couple of guards watch their door…” Glimmer tries to put her mother at ease.

“Alright, well… you two should get going to Grayskull. It’s in the city of Arskia, which is just across the Delta from here. I’m sure my daughter and her friend will show you how to get there,” Micah says, trying to change the conversation.

“Your majesty, would it be alright if Bow and Princess Glimmer stayed with us indefinitely? They seem best suited to help us the most, and we really don’t know about anything outside of The Horde. Plus, we like them. They’ve been nice to us, and we really haven’t deserved it…” Adora asks wholeheartedly.

“I think that’s for them to decide, not us,” Micah answers.

“Of course we will, we’ll help you with anything you need.” Bow responds.

“What he said. C’mon, let’s get going to Arksia. I’m a bit drained of my powers after last night so we should probably take the Hypersonic train if we are going that far,” Glimmer adds.

“What’s a Hypersonic train?” Catra asks.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough…” Bow says, alluding to how amazed he thinks the two Horde girls will be at Brightmoon’s advanced technology. He’s always been a sucker for cool gadgetry, so he doesn’t see why anyone else wouldn’t be impressed.

“Alright, the station is just down the street from the castle, let’s get going. But first, you both should probably change into something… cleaner,” Glimmer says, trying to sound as nice as possible.

“Yeah, fair enough. What do you have for us?” Adora asks Glimmer.

“Oh, finally, my time to shine. I have Brightmoon’s largest fashion collection, and you both get to pick something!” Glimmer exclaims as she places both her hands on Adora’s and Catra’s shoulders, whisking them away via teleportation to her bedroom. Unfortunately, she does not realize that she has just abandoned Bow alone in a room with both of her parents.

Micah and Angella, now staring only at Bow, quickly form scowls on their faces. Bow smiles out of fear and slowly backs away, eventually turning and sprinting out of the door. 

“I don’t like that boy,” Angella begins, “I think he’s trouble.”

“Why would Glimmer lie to us about spending the night alone with him?” Micah asks.

“I think… she’s growing up. We’re gonna have to let her make mistakes on her own.”

“Angie, I get that, but why would she lie?”

Angella comes to a realization which she feared was true. 

“We’ve sheltered her for her entire life. Now she finally has someone other than us and she’s scared that we’ll take that away from her.”

“If that’s the case, we need to have a talk with her. I don’t want her to think I’m trying to keep her from having friends.”

“Not yet. Let her be, for now. She’s got two more new friends she needs to get acquainted with. Right now, though, we need to call a meeting of the Five Kingdoms. Everyone must know about She-Ra’s return as SOON as possible.”


	5. The Crystal Castle

“So what is your plan once we arrive in Brightmoon?” Hordak asks Shadow Weaver as they sit together in a Horde ship being flown through the air by Scorpia. 

“I’m not entirely sure,” Shadow Weaver begins, “I’m not very welcome there, I’m technically a fugitive.”

“What crime did you commit?” Hordak asks, his naivety showing.

“I was once a sorcery teacher in the city of Mystacor. One day, my own greed got the better of me and I began experimenting with crafting dark magic, which is highly illegal. It wasn’t long before I was caught and sentenced to prison. Before they could put me in jail I escaped to The Horde where I thought I could be useful for someone.”

“Did you fulfill your desire of feeling useful?”

“I did, but not for the reason you are thinking. I thought I could be useful by using my craft to defeat those who tried to imprison me. As it turns out, I proved to be more useful in raising two little girls. I had my doubts and struggles at first, but over time, they became a part of me. I didn’t just help them, they helped me. I knew of the lies you were feeding the children but I just couldn’t bear to tell them the truth. What else could I have done? I kept my secrets from them and now I’m living to regret it. If I find them, I swear I will never lie to them again. It’s probably for the best they remain in Brightmoon, anyway. The Horde is no place for them.”

“What lies did we tell the children?” Hordak asks, still with a fuzzy memory.

“You orchestrated the idea that The Horde was somehow fighting to liberate Etheria from unjust monarchies. I know that is a lie, because I was born and raised in Brightmoon, and they are far from unjust. I deserved every bit of punishment they intended to inflict upon me. But, I went along with your lies because I knew I would never be able to go anywhere else.”

“I…” Hordak takes a second to think, “...I remember now. We designed that lie in order to convince the populous to fight for our cause. Our cause though…”

“I never questioned nor cared about your cause… until it nearly got my children killed.”

“Our cause is to gain control of Etheria so Horde Prime can take all of the magic for himself.”

“Why would Horde Prime want Etheria’s magic?”

“We were fighting The First Ones, as you call them. Before we entered the pocket dimension they put Etheria into, almost a thousand years had passed. I suspect should Horde Prime succeed with his plan, Etheria would exit the pocket dimension a mere few seconds after it entered it in his time. He is willing for us to take as long as we need, and it will be almost of no consequence to him. I don’t know his plans for the magic, but I believe his intent is to use it on other worlds.”

“So Horde Prime wants to destroy Etheria by draining it of its magical life force.”

“Correct.”

“I can’t let that happen. Not to my girls.”

“I feel... conflicted. I am a servant of Horde Prime, yet I feel as if he is in the wrong? I do not wish for him to succeed. What is this emotion?”

“That’s called rebelling. You don’t wish for him to succeed because him succeeding would compromise your beliefs. You must now believe that Etheria does not deserve to be destroyed.”

“Shadow Weaver… I am sorry for any past troubles I may have caused you or others. My actions were not my own. I am willing to go against Prime if it means stopping the harm being done to this planet and the people on it. Please, accept my apology and help me.”

“Hordak, I accept your apology, I understand. But, we cannot fight The Horde. We are just two people.”

“Perhaps we should join Brightmoon’s side of the war. Maybe they will take pity on us and allow us to fight for them as penance.”

“I’m not interested in that. My main mission is to find Adora and Catra. After that, I don’t know.”

“Maybe you should take into account their livelihoods, then. You want them to live happily, correct? If The Horde succeeds at all, that will not be a possibility for them!”

“DO NOT bring my children into this in an attempt to guilt me. It will not work!”

It did.

“Perhaps we could offer information about The Horde in exchange for our freedom after we find the girls. If they haven’t been found by Brightmoon’s forces already, they most likely will be soon. They will need someone to get them released, and we may be the only ones who can make a deal for them.”

“Alright…” Shadow Weaver begrudgingly agrees. “We will surrender to Brightmoon and make a deal with them for the girls. They do not deserve punishment for anything, only I do.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Catra, please get off my lap,” Adora asks under distress, caused partly from the pain of Catra’s body lying on top of her legs, partly from the unexplained fluttering in her stomach she got with Catra in that position, that close to her. It felt like a bunch of butterflies were released in her stomach. She didn’t know what it was and thought it would be best to stop.

“Sorry, we’re just moving so fast! It’s so cool! I wanna stare out the window.”

Catra, Adora, Bow and Glimmer all share a row of seats on the Hypersonic train as they head to Arksia. Adora arrived at the window seat first, and Catra is currently regretting not taking it before her. Bow is thankful at least one of them appreciates the experience.

“Catra, if you wanna look so bad, just switch with me…” Adora pleads with the magicat.

“Ugh, sorry. I can’t help being a little excited. Why aren’t you? There’s so much cool stuff all around us, why aren’t you caring about any of it?”

“It’s just that... I don’t know. I’m just a little nervous about whatever I’m about to do. I have no idea what to expect.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll be right there with you to help,” Catra began, taking Adora’s hands.

The fluttering returned.

“...I’m sure Princess and Arrow Boy will offer to help also.”

“Um, Catra, you know we can hear you, right? You’re 3 feet away.” Glimmer states, not really that upset. Catra merely sticks her tongue out in response. 

Bow still can’t help but think, even though he knows what he is currently doing is MUCH more important, how his plans to tell Glimmer how he feels have been constantly changing. He can’t do it now, that would create too much awkward tension. Plus, he only just met his two new friends, he doesn’t want to scare them away by being weird. As long as he can eventually find alone time with Glimmer, he should be fine. 

“This train will arrive in Arksia Central Station in approximately 90 seconds” an automated voice reads out over the train’s speaker. 

“Almost there guys, from the station Glimmer will teleport us to the Grayskull Museu- I mean, base.” Bow says, catching himself. Catra giggles. 

“What do you think I’ll need to do when we go inside?” Adora asks.

“I’m not sure, I’ve only been inside once. The inside seems way smaller than the outside makes it out to be,” Bow answers.

“Hopefully you can talk to that Light Hope lady again and she’ll tell you what to do,” Glimmer adds.

“Hopefully.”

As Adora replies, the train slows to a stop.

“We’re here!” Bow declares.

The four friends all stand up and converge to walk down the aisle to the doors. Adora and Catra, wearing Brightmoon clothes for the first time in their lives, cannot help but feel silly looking how they do in public. Adora, wearing a baby blue blouse with purple pants and a sparkling belt, really does not enjoy her outfit. She prefers the simplicity and feel of her Horde uniform. However, she does not mind looking at Catra, who is wearing a cropped red leather jacket over a collared white shirt tucked into black, slim-fitting pants… also fingerless gloves. Glimmer loves fingerless gloves, and apparently so does Catra. Adora makes a mental note of Catra’s outfit and proceeds to exit the train. 

“Are you all ready?” Glimmer asks.

“Yeah I think we are,” Bow replies.

“Alright, everyone. Join hands.”

The group proceeds to hold each other’s hands and they disappear from the station.

In a flash, the group is standing in front of Grayskull. The massive thousand-year old complex, protected by a high wall with the only entrance being a guarded gate, shines in the daylight. At its centre, a tall, triangular peak juts out above everything else close to it. The First Ones’ language was easy for Etherian historians and scientists to decipher as they both spoke virtually the same language. The First Ones didn’t just influence Etheria’s magic, they influenced the entire culture and language of the planet. A thousand years later, English (even though the Etherians do not call it that) is still the primary language of Etheria, having evolved little over the centuries. However, The First Ones military used specially coded English in text and written form, which is much harder to decipher. The entirety of Grayskull is covered in it. Immediately, somehow, Adora knows what everything means.

“What is all of this scribbling on the walls?” Catra asks.

“It says, Earth Space Agency Arksia Base 360A, Class Alpha, Designation: Grayskull.” Adora reads aloud. 

Bow and Glimmer’s jaws simultaneously drop.

“YOU CAN READ THAT?” Bow asks, shocked.  
“What, you can’t?” Adora asks in response, genuinely unaware she is the only one with the ability to read any of it.

“Adora, literally no one on this planet can read that. They’ve tried to decipher it for centuries.” Bow responds.

“How do I know what it says? It looks normal to me.”

Just then, a quick, high-pitched tone sounds off in Adora’s head. She is met with a familiar voice only she can hear.

“Hello, Adora. Welcome to Grayskull,” Light Hope’s voice states.

“Light Hope, is that you?” Adora asks, out loud for all to hear.

“Uhh, Adora, no one said anything...” Catra says, confused.

Adora shushes Catra.

“She’s in my head, remember? Nanobots? Simulation?”

“Oh, right. Carry on.”

“Adora, you have arrived at Grayskull, the home of She-Ra, Princess of Power. From now onward, this will be your primary place for training, learning, and fulfilling your duties as defender of Etheria. As to answer your earlier question, the nanotechnology in your brain deciphers the ESA’s coded language for you, so your brain interprets the code in your native tongue. This comes standard with all ESA military personnel. Are you ready to begin your first day as protector of Etheria?”

“Yes, I am ready. Where do we go inside?”

“Enter through the gate and into the main structure. From there, I will lead you to She-Ra’s designated training space. You will need to recite the password written on the door. Since you have special ESA authorization, only you will be able to decipher it.”

“Come on guys, Light Hope says to go inside.” Adora begins walking, leading the group through the gate and into the main structure. Suddenly, the floor of the hallway begins glowing green, with flashing arrows pointing Adora in the direction she needs to go. 

“Woah, this is so cool! Does anyone else see the arrows?”

Catra, Bow and Glimmer all shake their heads “no” in unison.   
“Adora, the nanotechnology in your brain allows for simulations to occur within your field of vision. To make this more abundant and the interface easier for you to understand, I will now appear as if I was standing before you.”

A few seconds later, Light Hope appears directly before Adora. Adora attempts to reach out to touch her, and actually can feel Light Hope physically.

“Adora, the nanorobotic simulation is run through all aspects of your brain’s sensory system. It can simulate vision, sound, smell, touch, and taste. I will appear real to you, but to everyone else standing around you currently, you look as if you are touching nothing but air. Please keep this in mind.”

Adora quickly realizes how silly she must look to her friends and pulls her hand away. She lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Sorry guys, the simulation is REALLY realistic. Light Hope is standing in front of me right now.”

“Bow, are you entirely sure she’s not just crazy?” Glimmer asks Bow, whispering.

Bow shoots her an amused look and continues following Adora. 

“Adora, please continue to proceed through this door after reciting the password written on it.”

Adora takes a quick look at the door she just walked up to, then recites the password out loud.

“Eternia.”

Suddenly, the door slides open and a massive, untouched-in-centuries room is revealed. 

“Welcome to the Crystal Castle, She-Ra’s designated training facility,” Light Hope says with pride.

As the group walks in, they all marvel at the size and grandness of it all. Even Glimmer is impressed and she lives in a royal palace. Catra remains close to Adora as everything they have gone through together in the last 24 hours is reflected by the scale of the building they now inhabit.

“Adora, the Crystal Castle is reserved only for She-Ra and those granted authority by the ESA. Your friends will have to remain outside of this room for the next six hours. We will begin with your training today, which should cover the basics of most of your newfound abilities, including how to transform your Sword into any desired object using the interlocking nanotechnology that forms it, how to summon your healing powers, how to generate magical energy blasts from your Sword, and how to adjust to your enhanced strength. Later training days will focus on harnessing as much power as possible with each move you make. Please direct your friends outside of the Crystal Castle and let them know of the timeframe in which you will be busy.”

Adora turns and looks at the group.

“Sorry, guys. Light Hope says you have to leave. This is something I apparently have to do on my own. You can come back in six hours though, she says I’ll be done for the day by then.”

“Do I really have to go with them?” Catra asks, half-joking, half-irritated.

“Sorry, Catra. Rules are rules. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“Like you’ve ever accidentally hurt me before.”

Adora just smiles as Catra sticks her tongue out.

There’s the fluttering again.

“It’s okay, Adora. We’ll be back this afternoon. In the meantime, we can take Catra shopping! Arksia has some of the nicest clothing stores on Etheria, I’m sure we’ll find you something.” Glimmer says, turning toward Catra.

“Ooh, do they have more fingerless gloves?” Catra asks with interest.

Glimmer gets a massive grin as she touches both Bow’s and Catra’s shoulders and instantly teleports out of the room. 

“Adora, are you ready to begin?”

“I’m ready. For the Honour of Grayskull!”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Unidentified Horde aircraft, you have entered Brightmoon territory. Please immediately turn around or you will be shot down.” A voice reads out over Scorpia’s telecoms.

“Attention Brightmoon, we are friendly aircraft carrying three Horde defectors who seek assistance from Brightmoon and offer valuable information. Please direct us to whichever landing zone you deem fit and we will comply.” Scorpia says back, hoping she’s not about to die. 

The telecoms are silent for what feels like hours.

“Unidentified Horde aircraft, you will be escorted to Brightmoon Castle Landing Zone by four remotely piloted ships. We will not hesitate to fire if you try anything. Disable any weapons you may have on board at this time.”

“Yes! Yes! Thank you!” Scorpia complies with gratitude, flipping switches around her as to disable any weaponry the ship possesses. 

Prior to this, Shadow Weaver and Hordak explained to her the plan, as well as revealing other things. Being as that Scorpia was ALSO a child soldier, kidnapped from Skyland by The Horde, whatever they told her is all she has ever known. However, after hearing from Shadow Weaver and Hordak the complexity of everything happening, she is now more than willing to help them accomplish their goal. If not for the good of Etheria, then for the safety of Shadow Weaver’s two children. 

As their ship is guided to Brightmoon Castle’s Landing Zone, Shadow Weaver prepares for the conflict she is about to endure. 

The ship lands in the open space allocated for such things, the doors open and all three people inside step out, hands raised in the air. They are quickly surrounded by Brightmoon guards as Shadow Weaver begins to speak.

“I demand to speak to the King of Brightmoon. It is an urgent matter of life and death.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“That’s the last of them, Princess Frosta will arrive with the others this evening.” Angella informs her husband.

“Great! So everybody will be attending?”

“Yes. Princess Perfuma will be arriving shortly, followed by Princess Mermista and her husband, Princess Entrapta, Netossa, Spinnerella and your sister Castapella, then finally Princess Frosta.”

“Gee, it almost sounds like an old Alliance meeting…” Micah casually mentions.

“We DO NOT need to bring that up again, Micah. This meeting is merely a formality. A presentation of important information as a gesture of goodwill. Nothing more.”

Even though most of the current princesses are too young to remember the failed Alliance 18 years ago, Micah and Angella certainly are not. Princess Entrapta, the oldest of the new princesses at 31, was only a child when she learned the news of her parents, the King and Queen of Dryl, perishing in battle. She, while not technically having any magical powers, is very skilled with technology and mechanical inventions, as her parents were. As for Perfuma, Frosta and Mermista, they were still toddlers when The Horde invaded and killed their parents in battle as well. Perfuma, age 19, princess of and sole leader of the Kingdom of Plumeria, has the magical ability to control and grow plant life at will. Frosta, age 23, princess of and sole leader of the Kingdom of Snows, has the magical ability to control snow and ice at will. Princess Mermista, age 22, who now rules the Kingdom of Salineas with her husband, Sea Hawk, age 23, has the magical ability to control water and aquatic life. Castapella, age 35 and King Micah’s sister, shares Micah’s powerful sorcery skills. She is now the head sorceress of Mystacor, a Brightmoon city famous for its sorcery schools and powerful alumni. She also serves as a sorcery advisor to Brightmoon and is heavily involved with Brightmoon’s magical defence. Netossa and Spinnerella, both age 29 and wives to each other, were also far too young to be members of the original alliance. While they are not members of Brightmoon’s royal family, nor do they have any connection to the Moonstone, they both reside in Brightmoon Castle and have their own magical powers. Netossa has the ability to create magical cages of any shape or size, and Spinnerella has the ability to magically control and create wind. No one is sure why they have these powers, the working theory being they come from royal lineages and have retained magical abilities through their bloodlines as a recessive trait. Regardless, Brightmoon is happy to have them as allies.

King Micah and Queen Angella were the only members of the old alliance to survive the numerous battles fought with the Horde. This fact is something that causes Angella pain every day, as she was the one who formed the alliance. She has vowed to herself to never make a mistake like that again, and has since been focusing on defending against The Horde, rather than attempting to conquer it and risk more lives. Micah is not immortal like his wife, so he does not own the same life experiences as her. Micah has always been eager to fight for what is right, and this often causes conflict with his wife. 

“I’m sorry, Angie. I didn’t think anything of it. I won’t bring it up again.”

“Thank you. Please tell the guards to prepare the Meeting Hall for guests. As soon as Glimmer and her friends return in six hours, we will begin the meeting.”

Suddenly, the doors to the room they both are in burst open and a squad of Brightmoon guards rush through.

“Your majesties, we bring news. Three Horde defectors have arrived at Brightmoon Castle’s Landing Zone and they are demanding to speak to you. They say it is an urgent matter of life and death,” the guard states.

“What are their names?” Micah asks intrepidly.

“The first is the pilot who calls herself Scorpia, the second is a Horde clone who calls himself Hordak, and the third…” the guard stops herself. 

“Yes, what is it? Who is the third person?” Micah asks, this time with more concern.

“...the third is a known and wanted criminal in Brightmoon, your highness. Shadow Weaver. Your old sorcery teacher.”


	6. Butterflies

As the hours went by, Catra, Bow and Glimmer were making the most of their time in Arksia. Catra, never having been outside of The Horde, was loving everything that there was to do and see. She was also learning a great deal from her two new friends about what life could be like for her and Adora.

“So you can just walk into any of these places and get whatever kind of food you want?” Catra asks, shocked at the proposition of restaurants, cafes and food vendors.

Glimmer giggled at Catra’s question, which to her sounded absurd.

“Yes, Catra. As long as you pay for it. Or, you can go to a grocery vendor and take whatever you want home with you for free, and you can make whatever kind of food you want yourself!”

Brightmoon has always had an abundance of food, so much so that 18 years ago the government enacted a policy which, in order to abolish the hunger and poverty brought from The Horde’s invasion, made all grocery foodstuffs free for the taking. Restaurants, of course, could still charge people for the preparation of the meals, but, making them yourself is effectively free. 

“...and I can really wear whatever I want whenever and wherever I want?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t show up in public areas naked.”

Glimmer turns and stares at Bow. Bow, eating his snack, fails to notice immediately. He then looks up and sees Glimmer’s eyes profusely gazing at his own. He then recalls why she would be doing so.

“What? That was ONE TIME, and I apologized for it.”

Glimmer lets out a snarky laugh and turns back around to Catra.

“Brightmoon is so cool! I can’t wait to show all of this to Adora when she’s done.”

Glimmer’s smile turns into a slight frown.

“I’m sorry, Catra. We can’t do that today. My parents called a meeting of all the princesses of Etheria tonight to discuss She-Ra’s return and we all have to be there. Maybe some other time.”

Catra sinks into a scowl and then takes a deep breath.

“Alright. But Adora deserves to experience this too. She’s had it rougher than me, especially these last 24 hours. I want her to have some happiness mixed in with everything else.”

“You really care about Adora, don’t you?” Glimmer asks with sincerity.

“She’s my best friend. She’s the only friend I've ever had. I’ve never left her side before. It’s been that way ever since we met. I would do anything for her.”

Glimmer suddenly has a thought pop into her head, and, with an elementary school-like tone, blurts out the words,

“Youuuuuuuu like her!”

Catra’s face instantly turns red with anger and embarrassment as she sheepishly tries to negate any implications her or Glimmer have made.

“Agh! No I don’t! She’s just my friend!”

Glimmer continues, this time with Bow joining in unison,

“YOUUUUUU LIKE HER!”

“SHUT UP! I DO NOT!”

“It’s okay, Catra. You should just tell her how you feel.” Glimmer says with excitement. 

“I can’t. The Horde forbids any type of romantic involvement among cadets. I wouldn’t know what to say anyway.”  
“Well, Catra, you both aren’t in The Fright Zone anymore. You’re free to do whatever you want in Brightmoon.”

“The Fright Zone?”

“Oh, did you not know? That’s what pretty much everybody calls Skyland now, which is where The Horde took over. A zone filled with frights, if you will.”

Catra grins at hearing the appropriate nickname of her old home for the first time. She hopes the subject has now changed.

“So… are you gonna tell her?”

It hasn’t. 

Catra hisses at both of them and sits down on the curb adjacent to where they were standing. They know now, there was no point in holding anything back. Adora taught her that. 

“I don’t even know if she likes girls. If she doesn’t I could ruin everything. I don’t want that.”

“Well, in that case, do you want us to find out for you?”

Catra’s ears perk up and eyes widen at the offer.

“Can you be nonchalant about it? Don’t you dare mention my name.” 

“Of course, we’ll find out tonight. Make yourself absent for a little bit after the meeting and I’ll work my literal and figurative magic.”

“...and I’ll be there too!” Bow chimes in, wanting to be in the conversation. 

“Thanks guys,” Catra begins speaking, “I really mean it. No one besides Adora has ever made me feel welcome like this. I appreciate it.”

Bow and Glimmer both let out a simultaneous “awwwwwww” and proceed to form a group hug around the normally introverted magicat. 

“Best Friend Squad hug!” Bow screams out of bliss.

“What did you just call us?” Catra asks in an overtly angry whisper. 

“What? I thought our group needed a name. Best Friend Squad sounded fitting.”

“Call us that again and I will sink my claws into your eyeballs.”

“We’ll work on that,” Bow says with a smile, gently patting Catra’s shoulder.

____________________________________________________________________________

As the hours passed, Adora continued her training with Light Hope inside the Crystal Castle. In a few short hours, she has learned how to control the nanotechnology in her sword using her own brainwaves to morph it into whatever she desires, as well as how to summon magical energy to blast out of the sword in certain directions, almost like a gun. Next, she is to learn how to use her magical healing abilities on both herself and others, even inanimate objects. Soon after, she thinks, she will have completed her first day.

“Adora, it is now time to learn how to use your healing abilities as She-Ra. To do this, we will first attempt self-healing in your natural human state. Please detransform.” Light Hope commands.

Adora, who has been in She-Ra form for the past several hours, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and finds herself wearing what she originally wore into the castle again.

“Excellent. Now, the next part will cause minor pain, but only temporarily. You will learn how to channel the healing powers of She-Ra even while not in her magical form.”

Suddenly, a long cut opens up on her right arm, blood beginning to spill. Apparently nanotech can do that too. It hurts, but, not nearly as bad as she thought it would. 

“Alright, Light Hope, what do I do?”

“Concentrate. Think about the state of your arm before the skin was cut. Much like how you think about your human state in order to detransform from She-Ra, think about how the injured body part normally should be.”

Adora takes a few seconds to concentrate, and suddenly finds her arm surrounded by a glowing golden hue. Within moments, her skin has returned to normal.

“Wow, that’s so cool! Will this work with any injury?”

“Yes, provided you are conscious. As She-Ra, you do not have to worry about suffering injury from non-magical entities, as you are equipped with invulnerability. However, should you enter a fight with any sort of magical foe, you can be hurt. To heal yourself in that situation, follow the same routine as just practiced. If you are unconscious in either human or She-Ra form, the nanotech within your body will attempt to rebuild tissue to compensate for the magic, but can be slow and unsuccessful in some circumstances. Please attempt to avoid these situations as they can be unpredictable and possibly fatal.”

“Stay conscious, don’t fight magical people. Got it.”

“Next, you will use your healing ability to reconstruct an inanimate object. You do not need to transform into She-Ra as this ability, much like your self-healing ability, is present in both forms. Reconstruction of an inanimate object works similar to self-healing, all you must do is concentrate on the object’s state as it was before it became damaged. The same applies when healing other people, but we do not have a third party lifeform for you to practice on. However, after this training session, you should be prepared for any situation involving that.”

Suddenly, one of the marble columns along the wall shatters and falls to the floor. 

“Adora, place your hand on the rubble and concentrate on the state of the column before it was destroyed.”

Adora strolls over to the damaged column and places her hand on a piece of rubble. Almost immediately, the entire pile of destroyed marble begins glowing with a golden hue. Then, the pieces lift off the ground and place themselves back together neatly where they originally were, almost like a puzzle. When the process is complete, it appears as if nothing had happened to it at all. Adora takes a step back in amazement.

“And I can do that to people, too?” Adora asks, suddenly filled with hope and a desire to return to her ship’s crash site. 

“Yes, but there are some restrictions. If a person has been deceased for longer than a few hours, you cannot save them. Also, if you do not know what the original state of an object looked like, you cannot fix it. If the pieces are large enough to where you can decipher how it may have looked, or if the destroyed pieces are surrounded by intact copies of the object, much like the marble column was, that may work. These are the only restrictions to your healing powers, as the ESA has not yet found a way to channel the full extent of She-Ra’s powers into their sword.”

Adora, now full of despair at the realization her squad is permanently dead, sulkingly sits down on the floor. 

“Oh.”

“This should conclude your training for today. You may decide when it is best for you to return for your second session, but please do not wait for very long. Otherwise I will have to bring you in myself.”  
What? Was Light Hope threatening her?

“Don’t worry, Light Hope. I’ll be back soon. Can I go see my friends now?”

“Yes. You are dismissed for today.”

The door slides open and Adora walks out, still in a bit of a depressed state. However, as she walks out of the gate of Grayskull and steps into the street where her friends are waiting, she immediately cheers up and feels better. She sees Glimmer holding shopping bags, Bow holding some sort of food, and Catra… smiling at her.

Those damn butterflies. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Scorpia, Shadow Weaver and Hordak are dragged before the King and Queen of Brightmoon for questioning. They are placed in magical restraints by Micah so they cannot cause harm.

“One of you speak.” Micah demands with anger, staring at Shadow Weaver.

Shadow Weaver speaks first.

“Micah, it’s been too long. How is everything?”

“Everything was going fairly fine until you three showed up on my doorstep. What do you want?”

“I guess I’ll get right to the point. I know I am wanted for what I did and I would not have come here had it not been important.”

“I’m listening…”

“When I escaped to The Horde, I was charged with caring for two little girls. I raised them and I consider them my children. They were sent on a mission near Alwyn yesterday where their ship crashed. I know they are still alive, and I want them found, if they haven’t been already.”

“You think you can just come here and make demands?”

“No, that’s why I brought him. He was the clone in charge of running The Horde, but I… accidentally… separated him from the hivemind. He no longer is under the control of Horde Prime and regrets his actions. Now, we come offering information to defeat The Horde, in exchange for my two girls’ livelihoods. Imprison me, not them. It’s all I ask.”

Micah looks at Hordak, then back at Shadow Weaver. Micah has lost any respect he once had for his old sorcery teacher. Once he discovered she was practicing dark craft in Mystacor in order to access Brightmoon’s runestone’s magic for herself, his once favourite teacher became enemy number one. To him, she still belongs in prison.

“What are your children’s names?”

“Adora and Catra. They do not deserve to live in fear nor punishment.”

Micah turns and stares at his wife in disbelief. What are the odds? Suddenly, Micah gets an idea.

“Scorpia, Hordak… Shadow Weaver. Do you all disavow and willingly choose to abandon The Horde and offer information in exchange for your freedoms?”

They all respond in unison.

“Yes.”

“Good to hear. Guards, please escort Scorpia and Hordak outside, we will deal with them later. I want the room to my wife and I to talk to our friend Shadow Weaver.”

As commanded, Scorpia and Hordak are led out of the room by the guards, and only the King, the Queen and the traitor remain.

“Wow, do I have a surprise for you.” Micah says, half-angry, half-amused.

“What is it? Do you know where my girls are? Please do not toy with me, Micah. I know I deserve to rot in jail for what I did but please do not hurt my children because of me.”

“Relax, they are fine. My daughter and her friend are with both of them now, they should be returning soon. There is a meeting tonight of all the princesses of Etheria, and I would very much enjoy your presence there,” Micah says, giddy and full of spite. He can only imagine Shadow Weaver’s reaction when she discovers Adora is now the sole proprietor of a runestone, something his old teacher was trying to accomplish for years.

“I know my greed and lust for power has forever changed your perception of me, Micah, but please, I beg you, do not associate my faults with them. They are good people, much better than I ever was. I lied to them and treated them horribly. They deserve a real home in Brightmoon.”

“I think you’ll come to understand just how we all feel about them during the meeting tonight. Until then, you will wait with your friends and give our generals as much information as you can. I will personally escort you all into the meeting room when the time comes. Guards!”

The doors swing open and the guards take Shadow Weaver away. 

“You didn’t have to be so rigid with her, Micah.” Angella says, putting her hand on his arm.

“No, Angie, I did. If I didn’t, she’d use it against me. I think after she sees Adora and Catra tonight, she’ll have a whole new set of things to worry about.”

“Are you still going to put her in jail?”

“I’m not sure, yet. If she can be of assistance still, I’ll keep her out. If Adora and Catra want her gone, though, she’s gone. I’ll bring her back to The Fright Zone myself. Their punishment for defecting is far worse than anything we can inflict here.”

“Why would Adora and Catra want her gone? Didn’t she say she raised them?”

“She also said she treated them horribly. I don’t know what their reaction will be, but if they want her to leave, I’m sending her away for good. She-Ra’s mental well being is more important to us than any information that traitor can use as a bargaining chip.”

____________________________________________________________________________

As the clock struck 6 P.M, Brightmoon’s guests all converged in the meeting hall. Seated around the circular table in clockwise order were Queen Angella, Glimmer, Bow, two empty chairs, Perfuma, Frosta, Entrapta, Mermista, Sea Hawk, Netossa, Spinnerella, and Castaspella. Next to Castaspella was Micah’s empty chair, even though he rarely sat down during these types of meetings. 

“Uh, why are there two empty chairs next to you, Bow?” Mermista asked from across the table.

“You’ll see in a minute,” Bow says, excited. He turns to Glimmer to share in his excitement. 

Just then, the doors burst open. In walks Micah and a few guards, escorting the three Horde defectors. 

“I have gathered you all here today because we have some very exciting and important news to share. These people are not the main reason, but they offer an extra layer of excitement to this story. Many of you may be familiar with Shadow Weaver, here.”

“Micah, why is she here? She tried to steal Brightmoon’s runestone!” Castaspella asks her brother frantically.

“It’s okay, Casta. Let him finish,” Angella responds with kindness. 

“Anyway, she’s defected from The Horde with these two other people, Scorpia,”

Scorpia waves her hand, not exactly sure what is going on.

“...and Hordak. Hordak here is a clone, but Shadow Weaver separated his own mind from the hivemind of Horde Prime. I have on good authority that both Scorpia and Hordak are here to help us and give us whatever information necessary to defeat The Horde. Whatever Hordak may have done in the past is irrelevant, they were not his own actions and he cannot be held accountable. Since he lost his connection to Horde Prime, he has shown remorse for his actions and a willingness to fight against The Horde.”

“...and what about Scorpia?” Perfuma asks.

“This may come as a shock to all of you, it certainly did for me. Scorpia, would you like to tell them?”

“Hi, everybody. I’m Scorpia, and I'm technically a princess.”

The entire room fills with silence.

“I am the daughter of the King and Queen of Skyland, but they were killed by The Horde when I was a baby. I never got a chance to connect with Skyland’s runestone and now my kingdom doesn’t exist.”

It’s true. Scorpia, daughter of the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Skyland, is a princess. She was only ever told this as a means to deter her from connecting to the Black Garnet, Skyland’s runestone, now in possession of The Horde. She always thought of herself as the child of monsters, after all, that’s all she ever grew up hearing. Now, she’s trying to seek out the truth.

“So if you aren’t connected to the Black Garnet, you don’t have any powers?” Frosta asks.

“No, but, I’m still a princess. Powers or not, I want to help you all fight The Horde so I can get my kingdom back.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about fighting The Horde? I thought we all agreed to just defend our own territory.” Mermista asks, concerned.

“Well, you all might change your mind after this next bit. Adora? Catra? We’re ready for you!” Micah shouts through the doors on the opposite side of the room. 

Suddenly, the big doors swing open, revealing a blonde girl and a magicat.

“ADORA! CATRA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Shadow Weaver screams, but they cannot hear her. Micah has cloaked Shadow Weaver in order to not disturb the meeting. She quickly realizes this. 

“Uh, who are you? Why are you carrying a sword?” Mermista asks.

“Hello, everybody. My name is Adora, and this is my friend Catra. We were with The Horde until yesterday when our ship crashed in the Whispering Woods. Since then, a LOT has happened. But, it’s probably best if I show you.”

Adora raises her sword above her head and chants,

“For the Honour of Grayskull!”

The room is filled with a burst of light, and suddenly, a magical sword-wielding warrior lady with shiny hair stands before them.

The entire room, yet again, falls silent. No one can hear her, but, Shadow Weaver is screaming. 

“WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?”

Virtually everybody (except for Micah, Angella, Bow and Glimmer) has their jaw drop at the sight before them. 

Netossa is the first to speak, “Is… that… no fucking way!” 

“Netossa! Language!” Spinnerella scolds her wife.

“Someone want to explain what is going on?” Mermista asks in shock.

Micah laughs.

“Adora, here, somehow found the Sword of Protection, and now she is charged with being She-Ra. She’s back, after a thousand years… she’s back. And she’s here to help us.”

Entrapta, enthralled with the possibilities of the First Ones tech involved, cannot stop staring at Adora, letting out an excited tone from her mouth. 

“Can I touch her?”

“Uh, maybe later…” Adora says in return.

“I’m sorry, how is any of this possible? I thought She-Ra was a myth!” Perfuma asks, almost convinced she is dreaming.

“She’s not a myth. She just hasn’t been seen on this planet for almost a thousand years because The First Ones did something to her magic so only one of their kind could wield it. Apparently, I’m a First One. Somehow. I’m the only person that has the ability to do this.”

“So, wait, you’re an alien?” Frosta asks, mesmerized. “COOL!”

“Yeah, I guess I am. But I have been on Etheria since I was a baby, as far as I can tell. I was kidnapped by The Horde. Every second of my life, except for the last 24 hours, has been spent with them. I realize now that they are the bad people, not the kingdoms.” 

She grabs Catra by her hand.

“They told both of us that we were fighting evil oppressive monarchies, but after spending a day in Brightmoon, we realize that that isn’t true at all. I’ve spent most of today at the old First Ones base in Arksia called Grayskull, learning about my powers. I intend to continue my training in order to learn everything there is to know about being She-Ra and help you all fight The Horde.”

“Adora, I am so sorry we did that to you, my actions were not of my own but of Horde Prime’s, I detest his treatment of you both, please forgive me.” Hordak states from his spot in the corner. 

Adora was told there would be other Horde defectors joining them, but she was not aware that one of them was a clone. Regardless, she doesn’t hold any grudges.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. Whoever you are.”

Catra stays silent.

“My name is Hordak, at least, that’s what Shadow Weaver named me.”

Adora and Catra both stand frozen.

“Shadow Weaver is here?” Catra asks.

Micah subtly drops the magical cloaking spell around Shadow Weaver and she appears in the opposite corner.

“Ooh, drama.” Mermista whispers to Sea Hawk.

Adora detransforms back into her normal self.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to make sure you both were alright. I was very worried.”

“As if you would ever be worried about us!” Catra snaps back, remembering all of the trauma that woman put her and Adora through as kids.

“It’s true. I came to beg Micah to let you live in Brightmoon, in exchange for my surrender for my previous crimes here.”

“Previous crimes? You lived here once before?” Adora questions with anger.

“Yes, I am sorry, I have not been truthful with either of you. I escaped to The Horde from Brightmoon after committing several crimes.”

“What else have you lied to us about?” Catra asks, more angry than Adora.

“Okay, everybody, the meeting is adjourned for today. Please, go back to your rooms and we will pick this up again tomorrow.” Angella speaks up, hoping to restore order.

As the room disperses, Adora and Catra continue to stare at Shadow Weaver in anger from across the room. Micah remains to the side, as Bow and Glimmer stay close to the door, intrigued as to what is happening. As soon as the room is silent again, the floodgates burst.

“WHY THE HELL DO YOU SUDDENLY CARE ABOUT US?” Catra screams.

“We find out our entire lives were a lie and you just expect us to accept a ‘sorry’?” Adora asks, more calm, but still angry. 

“I came back to make sure you were safe, that is all! I could not live with myself thinking you two were rotting away as prisoners of war.”

“You don’t get to say that to us!” Catra snaps again, this time more calm. 

“Well, we’re fine. You’ve accomplished your mission. Now please, leave us alone. Go back to wherever you came from.” Adora commands, surprising herself at her own anger.  
“Obviously you seem fine, and then some!” Shadow Weaver now is on the subject of Adora’s newfound princess state.

“This has NOTHING to do with you, Shadow Weaver. I’m the only one that can use this sword’s magic. Not even you hold a candle to the power I just learned that I have.”

“If you want me to go so badly, then I will. Micah, please take me to wherever you desire to put me. My girls don’t seem to want me around them anymore.”

“We never did!” Catra shouts from the other side of the table.

Micah calls for his guards to escort Shadow Weaver away. As she is led out of the room, she yells,

“I love you both, please don’t forget that. What I did was wrong, and I’m sorry!”

As soon as they leave the room, Micah turns to Adora and Catra.

“I’m sorry, girls. From the way she talked about you, I thought you were on better terms. Don’t worry, I will have her put in jail for the crimes she committed against Brightmoon.”

“She’s spent years manipulating us, lying to us, scolding us, torturing us, and all to what? Make us better child soldiers? She doesn’t get to say sorry for that, no matter how twisted she may be. Whatever love she thinks she has for us is not real. It never was.” Catra tells Micah with brutal honesty. 

“What crimes did she commit against Brightmoon?” Adora asks.

“She was a teacher of sorcery in Mystacor… She was even my teacher at one time. 17 years ago, greed consumed her and she began experimenting with dark magic in order to steal Brightmoon’s runestone from my family. She escaped to The Horde before we could put her in prison.”

“Why am I not surprised…” Catra says.

“Don’t worry, girls. If you don’t want to see her again, you won’t. You have my word.”

“Good. We’re just starting our new lives together, we don’t need reminders of our past already.” Catra says, unaware of the connotation that came with the phrase ‘starting our new lives together’. Adora looks at her with confusion, both due to Catra’s wording and her own feelings about it.


	7. Nonchalant

The next day, Catra and Adora wake up and find themselves attending another meeting, this time without Shadow Weaver or Queen Angella present. Glimmer and Bow left them alone the previous night, as they felt what they went through during the meeting was more than enough for one day. Regardless, They now all sit together at the same circular table, discussing where things stand and where to go from that point. Absolutely everyone wants to know about She-Ra.

“So you have the power to like, blow things up and stuff, right?” Mermista asks Adora, heavily intrigued. 

“Yes, that’s one of them. I can also turn my sword into basically anything and heal people and objects. Oh! And I’m basically invincible, which is nice.”

“You can turn your sword into anything?” Mermista asks, suggestively. Adora does not pick up on whatever she is hinting at.

“Yes, I can.”

Adora holds up her sword and gives a quick demonstration by turning it into a copy of Mermista’s trident. Mermista says nothing, but she clearly finds it amazing, among… other things.

“IS THAT FIRST ONES NANOTECHNOLOGY?” Entrapta screams from across the table, her long pink hair with mechanisms hidden inside lifting her up across the table to get a better view. 

“Yes it is. I also have nanotechnology circulating in my body and my brain which can repair damaged tissue and simulate artificial senses.” Adora responds, trying to sound as scientific as she can, even though she’s just reading back what Light Hope told her.

“Fascinating…” Entrapta says, eyeing the Sword, now back to its regular form.

“So, coming from The Horde, did you really not know they were lying to you?” Perfuma asks, causing a bit of silence. This topic was a bit more personal, but Perfuma connected with people on a personal level better than most. 

“I got this,” Catra says to Adora, “The Horde, including Shadow Weaver, lied to us. They told everybody in The Fright Zone that the other kingdoms were evil monarchies and we were liberating the people in Horde Prime’s name. We both realize, especially me, having spent a day with Arrow Boy and Sparkle Princess over here, that they were wrong. We both want to help you all, so there’s no need to worry.”

Catra turns back as Adora gives her a thumbs up, then gives her a confused look.

“The Fright Zone?”

“Apparently that’s the nickname everybody gave The Horde. Sparkles told me.”

“Honestly, it’s pretty fitting.”

The room stays quiet for a few seconds, then Frosta breaks it with another personal question.

“So you’re really a First One?”

“Yes, I am. The First Ones were from this planet called Earth, which is in another galaxy. Except, Etheria hasn’t technically been in a galaxy for a thousand years. The First Ones made the stars disappear by putting the planet into an empty dimension. How I got here though, I don’t know. But I came at the same time The Horde did, 18 years ago.”

“Do you think She-Ra could bring us out of the empty dimension?” Frosta asks.

“I… I don’t know. Right now I think we should focus on stopping The Horde. Light Hope, the First Ones guide that trains me, says that The Horde is trying to conquer this planet and steal all of the magic for themselves. I can’t let that happen, and I need all of your guys’ help. Are you in?”

The table stays silent for a moment, and then Glimmer speaks first.

“I’m in.”

Bow follows.

“I’m in.

Then Mermista and Sea Hawk.

“We’re in.”

Soon, the entire table expresses their desire to fight The Horde with She-Ra at their side. 

“So it’s settled. Should we make this new alliance official?” Micah asks, knowing how his wife will react to the news. 

“A new Princess Alliance, WITH She-Ra? Hell yes!” Netossa shouts from her seat.

“Alright, the first meeting of the New Princess Alliance is now in session!”

As the table erupts in cheers, Catra clings to Adora’s side. She knows Adora has powers now, but she still can’t shake the feeling that she could get hurt. Catra only just got Adora to herself, now she’s being pried away again. She shoots Glimmer a look of intent, and Glimmer knows exactly what she means. She wants Glimmer to do what she offered to do last night, but didn’t.

The meeting took a few hours and went fairly well. Hordak, who attended the meeting, offered insight as to how The Horde operates on a day-to-day basis, as well as important statistics regarding population and distribution. His technical prowess intrigued Princess Entrapta, who took an immediate liking to him, remaining by his side even after the meeting, discussing who knows what. Scorpia also attended the meeting, giving insight as to how The Horde uses their airships and where their weak points are. Many people tried to bring up Scorpia’s princesshood, but she did not offer much to say in that regard. After the meeting, Adora, Catra, Bow and Glimmer all converged in Glimmer’s massive bedroom, having casual conversation. 

“So, have you ever listened to First Ones music? I bet you’d like it being as you are one.” Bow asks.

“Oh, trust me, she likes it. She likes it a bit too much. It’s really the only music we’re allowed to listen to in The Horde, apparently all the new Etherian stuff would have implied there were artists that were free to make music, discrediting any statement from The Horde saying the kingdoms were evil oppressors.” Catra states, proud of herself for actually providing relevant insight.

“What’s your favourite song? I don’t listen to a whole lot of it, its a thousand years old after all, but I do like some of it.” Bow continues with the music-based questions.

“Praise You by Fatboy Slim.” Adora answers.

Bow and Glimmer start giggling. Catra already knows the song too well to find it funny.

“What? That’s the name of the band. The song is pretty good! Plus, I’ve always felt like I have this connection to it. Maybe that means something.”

“Maybe” Glimmer responds. 

Bow, scrolling through his tablet, finds the song Adora mentioned and plays it over the speakers in Glimmer’s bedroom, albeit quiet enough so they can continue their conversations. 

Catra, recognizing the opportunity, shoots Glimmer the same look from earlier. Glimmer responds with a nod, and Catra stands up.

“Hey, Princess, where’s the bathroom? I could really use it.”

“Out the door, down the hall on the right.” Bow responds before Glimmer could say anything. 

Glimmer looks at Bow with intent, but Bow thinks it’s about him interrupting her. She gives him another facial expression, glances her eyes at Adora, not looking at either of them, and Bow suddenly gets it. As soon as Catra is out of sight, Glimmer asks the first question.

“Sooooo… Adora…”

“Yeah?”

“What was it like growing up with Catra?”

“Oh, she’s the best. She’s really the only friend I had in The Horde, and I never really ever saw a reason to find another one. She’s all I ever needed…” Adora speaks, realizing how sappy she sounds, but she means it.

Bow tries to restrain himself from crying.

“You two seem pretty close, huh?” Glimmer asks a second question.

“Yeah, you could say that. I’ve never really left her side. Come to think of it, yesterday was the first time I actually was away from Catra for more than a few hours ever since we met.”

Bow is on the brink of tears and can’t hold it in any longer.

“DO YOU LIKE CATRA? YES OR NO? I NEED TO KNOW!”

Way to be nonchalant, Bow.

“Oh,” Adora lets out a nervous laugh as her face turns bright red, “psshhh, you’re crazy. The Horde doesn’t allow for romantic behaviour among cadets.”

“Adora, you do know you’re not in The Horde anymore, right?” Glimmer asks.

It hits Adora like a ton of bricks. She could, technically, now be romantically involved with Catra. Is that what was causing the fluttering in her stomach on the train and in the Crystal Castle?

“Yeah, but… I don’t know. I wouldn’t know what to say anyway. I don’t even think she likes girls.”

Bow is freaking out internally, trying his hardest to contain it there. Glimmer at this point is excited too, letting out a dull scream.  
“Adora! Tell her how you feel!”

“I don’t even know how I feel…”

“Trust me, you should just tell her how you feel, regardless of what you think she’ll say. You won’t regret doing it, trust me.”

Bow, suddenly, realizes what Glimmer is saying applies to him, too. 

“But what if I ruin our friendship? I don’t want to mess that up. She’s all I ever had.” Adora begins tearing up at the prospect of losing Catra in her life. 

“You WON’T. Your friendship is too strong to be broken. And, it can even make the potential relationship a million times better!”

Bow is taking mental notes.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Nothing bad will happen, I guarantee it.” Glimmer says, holding back the laughter that would imply she already knows the pair’s fate.

Catra, who never actually went to the bathroom, is standing right behind the wall, ear pressed up against it. She hears everything Adora says, and starts crying. She couldn’t be happier to hear that Adora feels the same way. She’s already plotting how and when she’ll confront Adora about it. Just thinking about Adora made Catra swell up in warmth and desire. She loved her. And Adora probably loves her back. This is the greatest day of her life.

Catra walks down to the end of the hallway, pretending to come back from the bathroom by making loud footsteps to alert the others of her return. She enters the door and Adora is standing there, right in front of her, waiting. She gasps. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“I heard all of it, Sparkles. Don’t worry.” Catra tells Glimmer later when they are separated from Bow and Adora. Neither Catra nor Adora could muster up the courage to confess to one another in the moment. Now that they are apart, Bow and Glimmer DESPERATELY try to play matchmaker. 

“Oh my gosh, she is head over heels for you, Catra. You gotta tell her soon!”  
“I know, it’s just… I’m still nervous. What if she accidentally says no and then feels bad and then I feel bad and then we-”

Glimmer cuts Catra off with a hand over her mouth. Catra is annoyed but thankful Glimmer stopped her train of thought, as it was not going anywhere she wanted it to go.

“Take a deep breath and go talk to her.”

Catra takes a deep breath, and begins to walk forward. She turns around, but before she can say a word, a massive explosion rocks the Castle. 

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Catra asks Glimmer in a panic.

“I don’t know, but we need to go find Bow and Adora.”

Glimmer grabs Catra’s hand and teleports away to where Bow and Adora are. 

“Guys, what’s going on?” Bow asks Glimmer and Catra as they appear before him and Adora.

“I don’t know, but it’s probably time for She-Ra!” Glimmer says, handing Adora her sword.

Without thinking, Adora raises her sword and says “For the Honour of Grayskull!”

Before any of them know it, She-Ra stands before them.

“Come on guys, this way!” She says as she leads them out of Glimmer’s bedroom.

They continue to run down several hallways until finally reaching the room where King Micah and Queen Angella are.

“Mom! Dad! What’s going on?”

“The Horde is attacking us, babygirl. I don’t know how they got past our defences, or what their intentions are.” Micah responds.

“What do you want us to do?” Adora asks.

“Adora, are you ready to use your powers to help us?” Angella responds with another question.

“I am.”

Micah interjects, “Then I need you to go outside on the roof with Glimmer and find out the scale of this and start attacking any Horde ships that get too close to the Castle. Bow and Catra, if you are willing, I need you both to aid the injured. Fight if you have to, but stay safe.”

Bow and Catra share a glance at one another, both assuring themselves of their readiness. 

“We’re ready” they reply in unison. 

Angella speaks next, “Micah I need you to alert the princesses in the Castle that their assistance is required. Please hurry so they can assist the others as soon as possible. I will stay behind to guard the Moonstone with my life, we cannot let The Horde get ahold of it.”

“Alright, everyone set? Let’s go!” Micah yells as Glimmer and Adora teleport to the roof and Catra and Bow run toward the damaged section of the Castle, bow and claws drawn. Micah proceeds to kiss his wife before using his sorcery magic to teleport himself to where the other princesses are. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Frosta, Mermista, Sea Hawk, Perfuma, Entrapta, Scorpia, Hordak, Netossa and Spinnerella are all in the same room when they hear the explosion. A few minutes later, King Micah appears in front of them.

“I wasn’t expecting the New Princess Alliance to act so soon, but we are currently under attack by The Horde. I need all of you to help in whatever way you can.”

All of them lined up together, faces determined. Mermista was the first to speak, 

“We’re here for you, whatever you need.”

She put a hand over Sea Hawk’s shoulder, which prompted everybody else to place their hands over someone else’s shoulder. Micah stared at them all and smiled. 

“Let’s go.”

Micah, using his sorcery, teleports them all outside to where Catra, Bow, Adora and Glimmer are already. Horde ships are swarming all around the Castle and all around the city of twelve million people surrounding it. 

“King Micah, sir, I’m not much use right now, but if you get me to the ship I arrived in, I have something that will be very useful.” Scorpia alerts Micah.

“What is it?”  
“Let’s just say there’s a reason my nickname is Scorpia.”

Micah smiles another determined smile and teleports them both away, leaving the rest to defend the Castle on their own. 

“I have never used my powers for battle before!” Perfuma cries, “I don’t know what to do!”

Frosta, hearing this, grabs a hold of Perfuma, and speaks encouraging words to her.

“You know how to use your powers, right?”

Perfuma nods in agreement.

“Well then, use them, but this time, destroy things with them!”

Frosta turns around and creates a massive dagger of ice which she promptly throws at a Horde ship within their vicinity, taking it down. 

“You got this, Perfuma!” Frosta yells as she uses her creation skills to raise herself onto a pillar of ice to move to a new location.

Perfuma, feeling inspired, creates a large array of vines, flowers, and roots, which raises her above the ground. She then creates a series of vines tangling several Horde ships together, bringing them to crash into one another and fall out of the sky. She’s got this.

Netossa and Spinnerella, remaining together, use their own powers to down ships. Netossa throws several cages around several ships and then pulls them down, containing each explosion when they crash, so as to not cause collateral damage. Spinnerella creates powerful vortexes which cause many ships to be tossed out of the air and into the care of Netossa.

Mermista and Sea Hawk, both remaining on the ground, stick together through the fight. Sea Hawk cannot do much alone, but he offers many words of encouragement for his wife as she uses her water controlling ability to down more Horde ships. Strong waves of water fly through the air and knock Horde ships out of the sky. Sea Hawk can only watch in amazement at his wife’s handiwork and say,

“Dearest Mermista, I didn’t know you had that in you!”

Mermista lets out a very annoyed sigh.

Elsewhere, Entrapta and Hordak attempt to stay safe through it all. Neither of them have any special fighting powers, just their minds. Entrapta begins to wonder what could have prompted The Horde to want to attack Brightmoon Castle. She then gets an idea.

“Hordak! Is it possible The Horde could be tracking you?”

“I believe it could be, yes. Clones of Horde Prime are designed to be easily found and recognized. I do not doubt they traced me to Brightmoon Castle and are attacking in order to find me.”

“Well, we aren’t going to let that happen. You are too valuable to us!”

Hordak takes Entrapta’s hands in order to calm her.

“Entrapta, if me going with them will get them to stop the death and destruction, at least for now, I will do so.”

Entrapta sheds a tear at the thought of losing her new friend already. She was never one to make friends, and she finally had someone in her life who shared her love of science. She wasn’t ready to let that go.

“I promise I will return. They are looking for me, I am sure of it. I must go.”

Entrapta continues her soft cry and Hordak releases his grip of her hands. He walks out into the open space in front of him and begins screaming.

“HERE I AM, IT IS I YOU ARE LOOKING FOR! TAKE ME AND END THIS NEEDLESS DESTRUCTION!”

Adora and Glimmer, situated on the roof above him, notice Hordak’s cry of sacrifice. 

Adora calls out, “HORDAK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Hordak replies, “THEY ARE LOOKING FOR ME, AND THEY HAVE FOUND ME! I MUST GO WITH THEM TO END THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!”

As Hordak says this, Micah and Scorpia reappear beside him. Micah, holding his staff, is now ready to fight. Scorpia, next to him, is even moreso. Now, she is wearing what she calls The Scorpion, a large, Horde-built mech-suit designed specifically by her, for her. The arms of the suit impersonate those of a Scorpion’s, with two massive metal pincers, each rigged with automatic weaponry. She punches them both together, eager to join the fight. Suddenly, a crowd of Horde ships converge above them, eyeing Hordak.

Adora, using She-Ra’s loud voice, calls out from her elevated position.

“EVERYBODY, PROTECT HORDAK! THEY CAME FOR HIM!”

With that battle cry, every fighting member of the New Princess Alliance converges around Hordak, using whatever powers they have to knock the dozens of Horde ships out of the sky. She-Ra blasts them with magic from her sword, Glimmer and Micah use their sorcery to set fire to them, Mermista swipes them out of the sky with water, Perfuma entangles them with vines, Frosta pierces them with ice, Scorpia leaps high into the air using her mech-suit and rips several ships to shreds using her metal pincers, Netossa catches the wreckage with her nets, and Spinnerella blows as much falling debris away as she can. Entrapta and Sea Hawk, unable to do much, sit in the relative safety of the Castle’s courtyard and cheer their friends on. 

Inside the bombed part of the Castle, Catra and Bow search the rubble for survivors. As it turns out, the destroyed area of the Castle happens to be where the prisoners are kept. Being as Brightmoon doesn’t have very many prisoners, the rubble seemed fairly devoid of anyone. That is, until Catra happened upon someone. 

“C-Catra, is that you?” Shadow Weaver asks, trapped under a pile of rubble, barely conscious.

Catra doesn’t know what to think or feel. On one hand, the woman who abused and lied to her and Adora for their entire childhood was dying in front of her. On the other, the woman who, despite all of her faults, took the time and energy to raise her and Adora was dying in front of her. 

“Please, Catra. Take pity on me. Save this old woman from death. You can go back to hating me afterwards.”

Catra, still unsure of what she wants to do, calls for Bow.

“What is it? Find somebody?” Bow asks, approaching Catra.

“Yeah, I did.” 

Catra continues staring at Shadow Weaver until she knows Bow is staring at the same thing she is. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Please, help me out of here and I will fight using whatever strength I have left. You can trust me, Catra.”  
Everything goes quiet. Catra, in that moment, was torn between leaving her mother figure to die, or saving her abuser based on something that may be a lie. 

“Catra, we should help her. Trust me, you’ll regret it if you don’t.” Bow suggests calmly.

Catra, after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, speaks.

“I’m going to help you now. Whether you choose to help us is up to you. I’m not going to let the choice I made here dictate how I feel for the rest of my life. You don’t get to do that to me.”

With that, she and Bow reach for the piece of rubble on top of Shadow Weaver’s legs and push it off. Her legs appear intact, but possibly broken. 

“Should we get She-Ra? She has the healing powers.” Bow asks.

“No, she’s busy. You take her left side, I got her right. We’ll carry her outside.”

Bow does as instructed and helps Catra carry Shadow Weaver outside to where the New Princess Alliance seems to have all but completely destroyed The Horde’s invading forces. Only one ship remained, and it was very large. 

“Alright, everybody. Together, on three,” Adora called out to everyone, trying out for herself what it meant to be a true leader. This was her squad now. She was NOT going to let them down. 

“One, two, THREE!”

On three, everybody unleashed everything they had on the last ship. Adora pelted it with magic blasts, Micah and Glimmer the same but with explosive spells, Mermista with water from one direction, Frosta with ice from another. Perfuma attempts to pull the ship down with her vines, but to no avail. Everybody’s efforts prove to be ineffective.

“What is this ship?” Micah asks.

Suddenly, the ship lands in the open space in front of them. The door opens and two clones exit. 

One clone speaks, “Brother! We have found you! Come with us now, and we will take you home.” 

“I think he’s talking to Hordak,” Mermista whispers to Perfuma.

“I cannot go with you, brothers. I have disconnected from Prime’s hive mind, and I have seen for myself the atrocities he plans to commit against this planet and its people. I cannot rightfully be complicit in his plans for death and destruction.” Hordak, having seen how his new allies have destroyed most of The Horde’s forces with ease, no longer wishes to go with his fellow clones. 

“Brother, you speak nonsense. Horde Prime’s will is just and eternal. You cannot go against it, that would be blasphemy!”

“It is not blasphemy and you would see that for yourself if you disconnected from his hive mind! His grasp over you is too strong! You must fight it!”

Hordak pleads with the other clones, but fails. He forms a hypothesis suggesting there must be a physical disruption between a clone and the hive mind.

“Brother, if you do not comply, we will be forced to call on the rest of our forces. Not even all of your magically-abled friends could handle that. Horde Prime demands perfection, and all clones of his likeness must remain connected to the hivemind, thereby remaining in a state of perfection!”

Hordak, turning back to look at everyone, sighs. 

“I must go. If I don’t, only death and destruction will follow.”

“No! Hordak! Don’t go!” Entrapta pleads from behind the group.

“I am sorry, everyone.”

Hordak, before turning to leave, walks towards Adora, still in She-Ra form.

“You are the most powerful one here, correct?”

“I think so, yes.” Adora responds.

“Destroy the hive mind, and you destroy The Horde. Horde Prime keeps an extension of his hivemind in the original ship we arrived on. Destroy it, and the clones will be as free as I am. They too can and will see the evil in Prime. Without their grasp, The Horde is powerless to stop you. This is how you save Etheria. Good luck.”

As Hordak finishes giving Adora this information, he turns and walks toward the other clones, hands raised. He climbs the ramp, turns around to face everyone, smiles, and waves goodbye to Entrapta. Entrapta is sitting on the ground, crying. Sea Hawk attempts to soothe her by rubbing her shoulder in a friendly manner, but to no avail. 

The ship’s door closes, and soon enough, returns to The Fright Zone. The New Princess Alliance has barely existed for half a day and is already down a member.  
A few minutes later, Catra and Bow appear before the group, carrying Shadow Weaver. The group, still distraught, does not know what to think.

“Hey, everybody, what did we miss?” Catra asks.

The group remains silent.

“Um, okay.” Catra responds to their silence with an unsure tone.

“Adora, we need She-Ra’s healing powers. Shadow Weaver’s legs are broken.” Bow shouts for Adora to hear.

Adora, still processing the information Hordak gave her, perks up when she hears her name. She then sees an injured Shadow Weaver and an overwhelming amount of emotions rush through her. 

“Adora, please, heal me. It will be the last thing I ever ask of you.”

Adora stays silent.

“Adora, just do it. Get it over with so we can start cleaning up.” Catra suggests, growing impatient.

Adora, after looking at Catra for a moment, turns and glares at Shadow Weaver.

“I’ll heal you, Shadow Weaver, but I’m done taking orders from you.”

Shadow Weaver does not respond, but nevertheless, Adora puts her hands on Shadow Weaver’s legs. Suddenly, with a golden glow, her legs are magically healed, and she is able to stand again. 

“Thank you, Adora.”

Adora does not acknowledge what Shadow Weaver says and turns back to face the group.

“Hordak told me that the only way to defeat The Horde is to destroy the hivemind. He says the hivemind is kept within the original Horde ship, deep within The Fright Zone. We will need all of the magic we can get if we are going to destroy it.”

“I may have an idea of how to do that,” Queen Angella says, peering around the corner and walking towards Adora.

“But it involves a lot of work.”

“Whatever it is, if it destroys The Horde, it’ll be worth it.” Adora responds.

“Then let’s get to work.”


	8. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the beginning of the second half of the story, and it gets MUCH more angsty from here.

Three months have passed since The Horde’s attack on Brightmoon Castle. The people from other kingdoms have long since returned home, but remain at the ready for whatever fight they may need to be in. Adora, having spent so much time focusing on how to obtain more magic and destroy The Horde, has almost completely forgotten about what she was going to confront Catra with. The feelings are still there, obviously, but Adora is the type to focus entirely on the wellbeing of others before her own self-interests. That’s just who she is. That’s why Catra loves her, even though she doesn’t know that. Ever since Angella laid out the groundwork for the NPA’s plan, Adora has been unable to focus on anything else.

“Adora, please, stop with the reading and come relax with us,” Catra pleads with Adora. 

“I’m sorry, Catra, but if I stop researching now, I could lose my place. Maybe tomorrow.”

Catra lets out an annoyed sigh and turns back around to face Glimmer and Bow, who, for the past three months, have not been able to keep their hands off each other. After The Horde’s attack, Bow realized that life is short and ever-changing, and that he should take risks as soon as possible in case he never gets the chance to. So, after Brightmoon Castle was deemed safe again, he immediately told Glimmer about his feelings for her. Glimmer, also having experienced a sense of mortality, immediately pounced at the opportunity to have a romantic relationship. Ever since, Bow and Glimmer have been an item, leaving Catra as a third wheel. Catra would tell Adora how she feels about her, but Adora probably wouldn’t pay attention to what she was saying. After all, she could lose her place in her research, and Catra wouldn’t want to make Adora more of an obsessed mess. She would punch Hordak right now if she had the chance, because she knows what he said to Adora really screwed her up emotionally.

“Hey, Bow, did your dads bring anymore First Ones books for me to look into?” Adora asks from her place at Glimmer’s desk across the room. 

Bow, without hesitation or speaking, raises his hand and points over to the shelf to the left of Adora. Not for a second does he break from his long, passionate kiss with Glimmer on the sofa of Glimmer’s bedroom. Catra stares in both disgust and amazement. At this point she is timing how long between each breath they can go. 

Adora, not seeming to want to acknowledge Bow and Glimmer’s excessive PDA, merely shouts a “Thanks Bow!” in response. Catra rolls her eyes. Wow, 47 seconds, a new record.

“Adora, seriously, when are you going to be done with all this research? It’s been THREE MONTHS. How much more information do you need?”

“Catra, as long as there’s information about The First Ones, I need to know it. I need to know EXACTLY what I’m getting into here. I don’t care how long it takes me to learn everything I need to know.”

“Do you still plan on going to Grayskull for your training with Light Hope tomorrow? I’m coming with.”

“Yes, Catra. I don’t even know why you still insist on going with me, Bow and Glimmer haven’t come for months."

Because I love you, idiot.

“What else am I going to do? Sit around here and watch the lovefest?”

Bow and Glimmer let out simultaneous annoyed sounds but fail to break from their kiss.

“Catra, if you really want to help, you can pick up one of those books and start writing stuff down.”

“I think I’ll stick to the lovefest.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Ever since Angella told Adora about how The First Ones were extracting Etheria’s magic and suppressing it using machines, Adora has done nothing but research how, when, where, and why. She wants to know everything about this topic, because the more she knows, the higher the chance she is able to unleash Etheria’s magic for everyone. Once that happens, the NPA will have enough power to defeat The Horde. 

Angella, having been alive MUCH longer than most on Etheria, has always known about how The First Ones planned to harvest Etheria’s magic for their own purposes. She was a little girl when The First Ones made the stars disappear, and she spent her entire life hearing from her parents and other heads of state about how they had planned to rebel against The First Ones once they realized what they were doing to the planet. However, The Horde attempted to invade before any plans they made could be finalized. Since then, with The First Ones gone, no one on Etheria seemed eager to continue their plight, as there really was no more struggle for power. As the years passed and the Kings and Queens of Etheria lived and died, Angella remained neutral, even as she became Queen of Brightmoon. She knew that The First Ones’ machinery had been slowly diminishing Etheria’s pure magical energy from the surface and consolidating it into an unobtainable cluster, as she was the only monarch alive long enough to notice. The loss of power happened so gradually that no one else thought anything was changing at all. She learned long ago that no one truly believed her stories, so she stopped telling them. Now, however, she has a real chance to fix what she knows is wrong. Now, she had She-Ra.

Glimmer, finally breaking away from Bow, looks over to Adora as she remembers,

“Oh, Adora, I forgot to tell you, my Mom wanted to see you again.”

She immediately turns back to Bow and continues the ‘lovefest’, as Catra put it.

“Okay. Catra, you wanna come with?”

“Sure, anything to get me out of watching this.”

Bow and Glimmer pretend to not hear her.

Adora walks over to Catra and reaches out to take her hand in order to help her out of the chair she’s sitting in. Catra, taking her hand and almost blushing, still cannot believe neither of them have confessed anything yet. Catra wants to wait until Adora’s newest obsession has faded, and Adora seems to have other things prioritized over her own potential happiness. Regardless, the feelings still remain for both of them. Catra, having months to really think over her priorities and desires, has come to accept that she doesn’t just like Adora, she loves her. As in, she’s willing to do anything for her. The thought of being open to herself and others about this scares her, but thinking about her being with Adora removes any fear or doubt. 

As Adora and Catra stumble through the halls of the castle, they quickly fall back into their old routines from The Horde.

“Hey Adora, bet I can beat you to the throne room.”

“Oh you’re on!” Adora replies with a tone and face determined to win.

“Don’t let that big forehead slow you down.” Catra taunts as she immediately takes off.

Adora lets out a scoff, surprised yet delighted by Catra’s taunting. They haven’t really done this in a while. She immediately chases after her.

“THAT’S CHEATING!”

Before they know it, they both have arrived in the throne room, laughing and out of breath, where they find Angella, waiting patiently alone. 

“You asked for me, your majesty?”

“Yes, Adora. I have a question to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“The woman who gave you The Sword of Protection, Razz, you say she experiences time different from the rest of us?”

“As far as we know, yes. Catra understands that a little bit better than I do.”

Catra, a bit surprised at the fact Adora just yielded to her, turns from Adora to Angella.

“Yes, she doesn’t experience time linearly. Her consciousness goes whenever it wants. I don’t know how or why but that’s how she explained it to us.”

Adora nods in agreement, pretending to understand what that means.

“Do you know how old she may be? Surely if she has been guarding The Sword of Protection since the last She-Ra, she must be nearly a thousand.”

“I’m not quite sure, but I believe she’s old enough to have seen The First Ones in person, if that’s what you are getting at,” Adora answers.

“I want you to visit her and ask her if she knows or can find out anything about where The First Ones may have placed their machines to contain the magic of Etheria. If we can find their location, we can destroy them.”

“Sounds like a plan. Do you want us to go today?”

“It is fairly late in the day already, it might be best if you go first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, please keep an eye on my daughter and her…” Angella coughs out of disgust, 

“...boyfriend.”

Catra silently chuckles.

“You got it, your majesty!”

Adora and Catra turn and walk away. Once they determine they are out of Angella’s range of hearing, they both laugh.

“Oh my gosh, even her MOM can’t stand them being together.” Catra laughs.

“It’s like they have literally been inseparable since the attack.” Adora responds.

They continue to laugh and casually chat as they walk through the castle halls. Once there’s a break in the conversation, Catra stops and turns to Adora.

“I missed this.”

“Missed what?”

“This. Being able to talk and have some fun. You’ve been so busy these past few months doing nothing but studying The First Ones we’ve barely had any time to just hang out.”

“Is that why you want to go with me to Grayskull all the time?” Adora asks, quickly realizing that she was supposed to go there to train tomorrow. 

“It’s just fun to be with you. You’re my best friend, dummy. Don’t ever think I don’t want to spend time with you.”

Adora’s stomach flutters yet again.

“Well, I was supposed to go to Grayskull tomorrow but it looks like the plans have changed. You want to come with me to find Madame Razz?”

Catra’s heart leaps out of her chest. Adora has never outright asked Catra to join her for anything before. It has always just been implied. This, while irregular, feels nice. To Catra, it confirms that Adora hasn’t completely forgotten about her. 

“Of course I’m coming with you, dummy.” Catra says as she leaps up to rub her fist in Adora’s hair, the same way they did to each other as kids.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Brother, it is time to move forward with the plan to control Brightmoon...” A clone speaks over a telecoms device to Hordak, who has been reconnected to the hivemind of Horde Prime.

“...once we control Brightmoon, we control Etheria. Begin preparing all battalions for invasion. We strike tomorrow.”  
Hordak is unable to do anything except respond, “Yes, brother. Glory be to Horde Prime.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Razz? Are you home? It’s Adora and Catra!” Adora cries out after knocking on the cabin’s door several times.

“Maybe we should kick down the door, she’s an old lady, she could be hurt.” Catra suggests.

“Catra, she’s been alive for over a thousand years. I doubt she suddenly got hurt in her own home.”

Suddenly, a figure comes stumbling out of the woods behind them. They turn around and find themselves staring at an old woman with a broom and a basket full of berries.

“Oh! Adora! Catra! Dearies! What brings you to Madame Razz today?”

“Don’t you already know?” Catra asks, still not exactly sure how that works.

“I’m an old woman, dearie. I don’t always remember everything.”

“Well, that’s funny, because we actually came here to see if you do remember something.” Adora says, nervously chuckling.

“Well, come inside, girls! I just picked fresh berries to make a pie!”

The three walk inside Madame Razz’s cabin. Madame Razz is eager to begin baking the pie, Adora is eager to find out what she can from Razz, and Catra has shifted her eagerness in anticipation of getting to try whatever a “pie” is.

As Razz begins the process of pie baking, Adora and Catra sit down in the same places they did that fateful night just over three months ago. Adora is the first to ask questions.

“So, Razz, we were sent here by Queen Angella in hopes you knew anything about where The First Ones may have constructed their machines to harvest magic from the planet.”

“Ah yes, dearie. I remember when Queen Angella was just a girl! She was adorable, just like you two! The First Ones were very secretive, but a lot of them loved Etheria just as much as anyone else!”

“So, do you know where they put their machines or not? We need to unleash the magic they suppressed in order to beat The Horde.” Catra says, noticeably impatient, although her impatience stems from the process of the pie baking. 

“I remember now! The answers you seek hide within the Crystal Castle!”

“How is she supposed to figure out what to destroy, though?” Catra asks.

“Ah, dearie. Love is the key to unlock the real magic.”

Catra is not sure what to make of Razz’s statement. Adora is silent for a minute, then proceeds.

“So I have to ask Light Hope about it?”

Frankly, Catra couldn’t figure out why Adora hadn’t thought of that sooner.

Before Madame Razz could respond, Adora is startled by a quick, high-pitched tone in her head. Suddenly, Light Hope appears before her, seemingly angry.

“Adora, you did not show up for training today. What is the excuse?”

“Sorry, Light Hope, Queen Angella needed us to do something for her. I’ll be there for training later today.”

“I expect you to not be late again. It is highly important all ESA personnel keep to their schedules. You are to cease all assignments from Brightmoon’s monarchs at once. This will be your one excused absence.” 

Light Hope disappears from Adora’s field of vision.

“Adora, was that Light Hope?” Catra asks.

“Yeah… she seemed angry. She said I was not allowed to break my training schedule and that I wasn’t allowed to take orders from Angella or Micah.”

“Adora, dearie. Be careful of Light Hope. She is not one to be trusted.”

“What does that mean?” Catra asks, now concentrated on Adora’s wellbeing.

“Catra, it’s ok. I can-” Adora is cut off as she loses consciousness and falls to the ground.

“ADORA!”

“Dearie!”

Catra, instinctively, rushes to cradle Adora, then takes out her telecoms device. She immediately calls Glimmer. Glimmer, in yet another makeout session with Bow on her sofa, picks up her tablet and answers after a few rings.

“You need something, Catra? I’m a little busy…”

“GLIMMER! ADORA COLLAPSED IN RAZZ’S CABIN, GET HERE NOW!”

Glimmer doesn’t even respond before she teleports her and Bow away. They immediately appear next to Catra.

“Catra, what happened?” Glimmer asks frantically.

“I don’t know! We were talking and Light Hope was angry that Adora didn’t show up for training today and then said something about her not being allowed to take orders from your parents anymore and-”

Catra stops her exasperated attempt to summarize the last few minutes to Bow and Glimmer and begins crying as she looks at Adora, yet again unconscious for an unknown reason on Madame Razz’s floor.

“...please help her.”

Glimmer takes Bow’s hand, places her other hand on Catra as she holds Adora, and they quickly disappear into thin air as fast as they reappear in Brightmoon’s Castle. Glimmer hurries to alert her parents as to what’s happened, and Bow and Catra remain with Adora, who is still unconscious. 

“Adora, please… wake up.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Adora, are you alright?” 

Adora hears the muffled question come out of Catra’s mouth as she slowly opens her eyes.

“You took quite a tumble there, dearie!” 

Adora sits up on Madame Razz’s floor, looks around, and asks,

“What happened?”

“You tripped and fell over Razz’s stool, dummy. You’re lucky She-Ra’s healing powers acted quickly.” Catra responds, seeming a bit off.

“I tripped? What about our conversation? What did you mean by not trusting Light Hope?” Adora asks, turning to Razz.

“Oh, no, dearie. I said, you should trust Light Hope more than the King and Queen! Light Hope knows best about She-Ra!” 

“But… but I thought…”

“Adora, stop worrying. It’s all in your head. The blow you took must have fuzzed your memory a bit.”

“Alright… if you say so. I really need to get to Grayskull for training. Catra, let’s go. We’ll come back here tomorrow.”

“Adora, you should do your training on your own. It really shouldn’t involve me.” Catra replies with a serious tone.

Something is up. How hard did she hit her head? Why can’t she remember anything immediately before this except Light Hope telling her to get to Grayskull?

“Catra, I thought you wanted to come?”

“It’s best if I don’t distract you, Adora.”

Adora vaguely remembers something about Catra telling her that she would never want to be apart from her. This memory causes Adora’s chest to fill with warmth. Suddenly, though, Catra becomes bitter.

“Go, Adora. You are already late. I will find my own way back to the castle.”

“Catra I-”

“Adora, just go. Your training is too important to delay for me.” Catra says, completely serious.  
Adora takes a moment to pause and reflect on what she is witnessing.

“Adora!”

After the third bombardment by Catra, Adora’s face turns sour and she turns to walk away. As she walks out of the door, Catra speaks.

“...and you need to stop taking orders from Angella. Light Hope knows best.”

Adora doesn’t acknowledge Catra’s statement and keeps walking. She walks all the way to the train station outside of Alwyn and heads to Grayskull. She can’t help but think why Catra said “you” and not “we”.

____________________________________________________________________________

“What happened to her?” Micah asks as both he and his wife rush into the room where Adora lays on a table, unconscious. 

“We were visiting Razz..” Catra begins, “she told us to not trust Light Hope. Before she could tell us why, Adora passed out. Before that, Adora was saying something about how Light Hope was angry she skipped training and that she wasn’t allowed to listen to you both anymore.”

“Glimmer, did you alert the Castle’s medical staff?” Angella asks.

“Yes, mom, they’re on their way, they should be here any second.”

Just then, the door bursts open with several guards, doctors, and nurses. The head doctor speaks up.

“How long has she been unconscious? What happened?”

Catra replies, “About 5 minutes, we were in Alwyn and she just collapsed. Glimmer brought us back here.”

The doctor, leaning down, raises Adora’s eyelids one by one and shines a light into them.

“Adora, if you can hear me, move your eyes or any body part.”

No response.

“She has a pulse but she’s unresponsive. We’re gonna have to move her to the infirmary, possibly a hospital. I can’t immediately tell what is wrong.”

Catra, who stepped back to let the doctor work, has a sudden realization and chimes in for everybody in the room to hear.

“I think I know. It’s Light Hope. We were talking about how we shouldn’t trust her and before Razz could give us an answer she just… collapsed…”

Catra tears up at the very recent memory of seeing Adora fall to the ground.

“There’s nanotechnology in her brain. I think that’s what is causing this. Light Hope is keeping her under. She might be in one of her simulations right now.”

Glimmer responds, now furious at the proposition her friend is being held captive in her own mind.

“Doctor, how do we get the nanobots out of Adora’s brain?”

The doctor stands up and stays silent for a moment, thinking. The room remains silent.

“I don’t think there is any brain surgery available to remove them. I’d have to know exactly what we were dealing with here in order to figure out how to extract them.”

Suddenly, Bow remembers there is a certain member of the New Princess Alliance who specializes in technology and First Ones machinery. 

“Glimmer, we need to go to Dryl to get Entrapta.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Concentrate, Adora. Your primary duty is to defend Etheria’s magic as She-Ra. This means, being able to fully deploy all of her powers when needed. Now, try again. Unleash as much destructive energy as you can from your sword on this practice course. Destroy any Horde ships you see. The exercise begins now.” 

As Adora finishes out her day training with Light Hope on one of many training courses she has done, she can’t help but mull over how she felt about Angella still needing her, and how Catra seemed to suddenly become so distant. 

After she has completed the training course, Light Hope appears.

“Good job, Adora. You are exceeding far beyond expectations. You are now done for today. Please do not be late next week.”

“Wait, Light Hope? Queen Angella was talking about First Ones machines that restrain Etheria’s magic. If I can free the magic, I can stop The Horde! Can you tell me where the restraints are?”

“Adora, you are to cease and desist all operations assigned to you by Brightmoon. Your primary and only job is to serve in the name of the Earth Space Agency to defend our Etherian assets from The Horde. Our magical energy harvesting projects are not to be disturbed. It is your job to defend these projects.”

“But The Horde-”

“The Horde is always and will always be a potential threat. It is not your job to destroy them, it is your job to defend ESA assets from them, including the Crystal Castle. You are to abandon this side quest immediately. There will be no further discussion.”

As soon as Light Hope finishes, she disappears. The Crystal Castle’s lights go dark. Adora, realizing she is not getting anymore out of Light Hope for today, detransforms back into herself. She walks out the door and heads to the train station to return to Brightmoon Castle.

____________________________________________________________________________

Glimmer and Bow materialize in Dryl’s Castle. Dryl, a city-state of twelve million people and the fifth largest of the Five Allied Kingdoms in both size and population, lies on a small peninsula just southeast of the Brightmoon city of Phlax along the Cracking Sea and almost directly north of the Sea Gate in Salineas. Glimmer and Bow don’t visit Dryl often, as there never really is a reason to, until now. Now, they need Entrapta’s help. Entrapta, for pretty much all of her life, has been alone. She lost her parents when she was 13, she was never allowed much at all for friendship, and now, tucked away in her lab constantly, she rarely speaks to anyone. That’s not to say she doesn’t enjoy it. She will be the first to tell anyone that she prefers to be alone among her projects, as she is not normally one to socialize. Even though she is a princess, she doesn’t have any powers, as Dryl does not have a runestone. However, this does not stop her from being the most widely respected and praised scientist in the Etherian Makers Community. Ever since her parents died in The Horde’s invasion, Entrapta has allowed Brightmoon to control Dryl’s government, and likely will allow for it to continue as she is not much of a politician. Politicians need to be good at speaking and being in public, after all. Nevertheless, Bow and Glimmer both realize that if anyone has a chance to save their friend, its Entrapta.

“Princess Entrapta? It’s Princess Glimmer and Bow from Brightmoon! We need your help!” Glimmer yells out into the empty hallway, which she knows has security measures installed to alert Entrapta of their presence. 

Suddenly, Entrapta’s voice comes over a loudspeaker somewhere above them.

“Bow! Glimmer! Welcome to Dryl! I’m in my lab right now, give me a second and I’ll be right out!”

Bow and Glimmer wait patiently for a few minutes while Entrapta makes her way towards them. Dryl’s Castle, Glimmer thinks, is unnecessarily large. Soon enough, they hear footsteps coming towards them.

“Hello! What do you need my help with?”

“Entrapta, our friend Adora is in trouble. The nanotechnology The First Ones put inside her brain is keeping her unconscious. We think Light Hope is evil and she has trapped Adora in a simulation. We need your help to get the nanobots out of her!” Bow gives Entrapta the rundown.

Entrapta gives Bow a blank stare and then smiles, later erupting.

“YOU WANT ME TO EXPERIMENT WITH FIRST ONES NANOTECHNOLOGY? OF COURSE I WILL! WHEN DO WE GO?”

“We need to go right now, so, grab anything you need.”

“I’ll get my things!”

Entrapta starts running back to her lab, listing off everything she thinks she may need.

Glimmer turns and looks at Bow.

“You sure she’s gonna be able to do this?”

“Glimmer, she’s the only one who has a chance.”

A few minutes pass and Entrapta comes stumbling back down the hallway carrying several bags and boxes full of scientific equipment.

“I’m ready!”

Glimmer puts her hands over both of them and vanishes the trio back to Brightmoon Castle.

____________________________________________________________________________

As Adora wanders through the castle looking for Catra, she runs into Angella and Micah, walking in the opposite direction.

“Your majesties! Have you seen Catra by chance?”

“Sorry, Adora, I haven’t.” Micah responds.

“I did earlier, she said she wanted to be alone for a while.” Angella follows.

Adora, shocked that Catra was still requesting to be separate from her, now begins to worry. Did she do something to make her angry? Was she pushing Catra away and not realizing it? She still wanted to tell Catra how she felt about her, even if the feeling was buried underneath a mass of other problems she needed to take care of first. Which, that reminds her…

“Queen Angella! Do you have anything new for me about The First Ones’ magic harvesting machines? I couldn’t get much of anything out of Razz.”

“No Adora. I want you to stop pursuing this. Whatever I told you is false and unimportant. You need to focus on being She-Ra and learning how to use her power to your best ability.”

Adora pauses for a moment... it’s almost as if Angella was repeating what Light Hope told her earlier.

“But… your majesty… I’ve… we’ve been working at this for months!”

“...and now I want you to stop working. Focus on She-Ra, not whatever nonsense this is.”

Before Adora could get another word out, Angella and her husband walk away. Adora, at this point, is too battered from everything happening today to feel the need to investigate immediately. All she wants to do is find Catra, Bow and Glimmer. She needs a break.

____________________________________________________________________________  
“Catra, could you come here, please?” Angella asks from across the room. 

Catra, still holding the unconscious Adora close, takes a moment before laying her back down on the table. She wipes a tear from her cheek and treads over to the King and Queen.

“Yes. What is it?” Catra asks, trying to sound as if everything is alright.

“Were you able to find out anything from Madame Razz regarding where The First Ones may have built their machines?” Angella asks.

Catra takes a second to think. She barely remembers anything before Adora collapsed.

“I… I think she said something about the Crystal Castle. She said that the answers we seek lie within the Crystal Castle.”

Angella takes a moment to review her thoughts. 

“When The First Ones stole She-Ra from us, they assigned her as their own protector. She was no longer Etheria’s defender, but rather, The First Ones’. She was reforged so that they could protect their own interests. If She-Ra was to defend their magic harvesting operations, it would make sense for them to build She-Ra’s castle around the most vulnerable part of what she was supposed to protect.”

“So, wait… you’re saying the Crystal Castle is the place where The First Ones have been siphoning magic?” Catra asks, now with added anger.

“If I had to guess, yes. As soon as she wakes up, we need to get there.”

Catra turns and looks at Adora, just laying there. She can’t help imagining all the possible horrors Light Hope could be subjecting her to at that very moment. Catra starts to silently cry and falls to her knees, a rare show of emotion around other people. Angella, being the good mother that she is, crouches down to comfort her. Even she realizes how much Adora means to Catra. 

“You’ll get her back,” she whispers calmly.

For a few moments, Catra feels a sense of warmth. Shadow Weaver was never able to do that for her. However, before long, Bow, Glimmer and Entrapta appear. 

“Where is she? I wanna see!” Entrapta screams. Bow gestures over to the table Adora is laying on, and Entrapta, now smiling with an open mouth, lets out a giddy shriek and pulls down her visor.

“Let’s get to work!”


	9. Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for pain

“Ah, there you guys are!” Adora says as she enters Glimmer’s bedroom, finding her three friends sitting together. Not one of them speaks or even acknowledges Adora.

“Is.. is something wrong?”

At this point, Adora knows deep down that something is, but she doesn’t want to confront it. Not yet, anyways. 

Bow turns to Adora with a scowl on his face.

“What are you doing here, Adora? You should be practicing with Light Hope. You need to spend less time with us.”

Adora, yet again confused by everyone’s sudden infatuation with Light Hope, asks,

“Why is everybody telling me this now?”

Glimmer interjects.

“BECAUSE, Adora, She-Ra is more important than any friendship!”

Catra stays silent.

Adora, on the brink of tears, really does not know why her friends are suddenly saying these things.

“Bow... Glimmer… what has gotten into you? I thought we were FRIENDS!”

“I can’t be friends with She-Ra, Adora. I would be too much of a distraction from her duties.”

Now Adora is pissed. She’s heard the EXACT same thing all day. Now, she wants answers.

“What the heck is going on? Why is EVERYBODY saying the SAME THING?”

Catra stands up from the sofa and walks into the other room. 

“Catra!”  
Adora chases Catra into the side room. When Catra is cornered by Adora, she unleashes on her.

“What the fuck do you want, Adora?”

Adora’s heart sinks to the bottom of her stomach. Catra has never been that angry at her, ever. Adora, now, is not so much pissed as she is terrified. She’s terrified she has done something to her best friend. She’s terrified she has pushed her away, somehow. She’s terrified Catra will reject her.

“Catra, I-”

Adora stops, trying to think of what to say. She’s still shocked and terrified. An overwhelming amount of emotions overcome her. 

“Catra, I want to know what’s going on. Why is everybody pushing me away all of a sudden? What did I do? Was it something I said or did when we were with Razz?”

“No, Adora. Everyone just realized that you are far too important for their time. You are She-Ra. You can’t be bothered with petty distractions like us."

“Catra! That’s not true! You’re not a distraction… I-”

Adora pauses as she realizes what she was about to say. This is it. It’s all or nothing now. 

“...I love you, Catra." 

Adora goes stone cold. She can’t believe she finally admitted it. All this time, her romantic feelings for her best friend have been heating up to this boiling point. Adora, terrified, waits for Catra’s response, hoping to see a smile form on her face. 

“I’m sorry, Adora. I can’t be with you. She-Ra has a destiny to fulfill, and I’m not a part of it. Go see Light Hope. She’s the only one in your life who should matter.”

Adora feels every ounce of life in her disappear immediately. The smile never came. She stands there, frozen. A look of disappointed shock appears on her face as Catra walks past her and out the door. After several minutes, Adora slumps against the wall. At this point, there’s nothing to do except cry, and she does. 

A lot.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Okay! If I know anything about First Ones nanotechnology, and, believe me, I do… it’s that cyber-organic nanotech requires a signal from a computer in order to function. The body works as the power source but there needs to be an external computer they are synched to. Does anybody know what that could be?” Entrapta asks the group of people surrounding her and Adora.

Everybody in the room looks at each other, not sure of anything that could be what Entrapta is asking for. Suddenly, Catra gets an idea.

“What about the Sword?”

“The Sword?” Entrapta asks, looking down at Adora’s side, where her sword lies.

“When Adora first touched it she passed out. After she woke up she told us that the Sword administered the nanotech into her body when she did. Could the Sword be the computer?”

“She did say the Sword was a First Ones creation as well, built with interlocking nanotech. She showed me! Perhaps if we can disconnect the Sword from the nanotech in her brain, that should make her conscious again!”

“Entrapta, do you really think you can do that?” Bow asks.

“I can try! But it’s going to take some work. I need everybody to give me some space… things might get a little… explosive.”

____________________________________________________________________________

As Adora sobs in Glimmer’s closet, she hears that all-too-familiar high pitched tone go off. Suddenly, Light Hope is standing before her.

“Adora, what is the matter?”  
Adora, now angry at all the pain being She-Ra has put her through, looks up.

“Catra doesn’t want me! No one wants me anymore! They all told me to-”

Adora cuts herself off, realizing how they all have told her to abandon them for Light Hope.

“They all told me to listen to you. I lost all my friends, and YOU’RE the reason!”

“Adora, your friends are mere distractions. Your primary duty is to protect Etheria’s magic fro-”

Adora cuts Light Hope off, absolutely enraged. 

“DON’T SAY IT. I KNOW. I NEVER WOULD HAVE AGREED TO THIS HAD I KNOWN I WOULD LOSE EVERYONE I’VE EVER CARED ABOUT! I DON’T WANT TO BE SHE-RA!”

“Adora, you are acting erratically. Perhaps some extra training time spent in the Crystal Castle will help you to clear your head.”

Adora, disgusted at Light Hope’s proposition, can only scream at this point.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Adora has broken down by now. She doesn’t recognize herself or her life anymore. She starts frantically punching herself in the head, screaming for Light Hope to leave. Not only does this cause Light Hope’s image to glitch, it causes the entire room to do so. Adora picks up on what is happening.

“This is all… in my head? LIGHT HOPE, IS THIS ALL A SIMULATION?”

A whole new flood of emotions hits Adora. She is beyond confused, irreparably scared, and filled with rage. She also feels a sense of relief stemming from the fact that Catra and her friends haven’t actually rejected her. 

“Adora, this simulation is designed to prepare you for the inevitable day you must say goodbye to your friends and fulfill your duties as defender of Etheria. You cannot afford to have any distractions.”

Like a dam bursting, a wall of memories hits Adora like a tsunami. She remembers everything she thought she couldn’t.

“PREPARE ME? I WAS ABOUT TO FIND OUT HOW TO SAVE ETHERIA AND YOU BROUGHT ME HERE! RAZZ WAS RIGHT! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU!”

“Adora, if you do not comply with ESA protocol, I will have to reinstate you without your memories.”

Light Hope is now threatening to clear Adora’s mind of everything.

“GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD!”

Adora never uses curses. Catra once heard her say ‘damn’ once and wouldn’t let her live it down for a week. There’s no holding back for her at this point. Adora starts banging her head violently against the wall. She knows she is in a simulation so she isn’t actually being hurt, even though it feels like she is. Even then, she has healing powers. 

Suddenly, Catra runs back into the room.

“Adora, stop. Control yourself!”

Adora immediately stops and looks up.

“Catra?”

“Adora, you need to stop hurting yourself. It’s okay.”

Catra gently caresses Adora’s bleeding face with her hands. For a second, Adora believes it’s real. Then she hears Light Hope.

“Adora, you have to fulfill your destiny. No one else on Etheria possesses the power that you do.”

Adora turns and looks back at Catra, who finally is wearing that smile she was hoping for.

“Is this truly what you want, Adora?”

____________________________________________________________________________

After a lengthy few hours of research, Entrapta is ready to present her options. She calls for everyone to enter the room again.

“Okay, everyone. I spent a lot of time looking into possible ways that I could disrupt the connection between the Sword and Adora’s brain. I tried hacking into the Sword, but The First Ones’ code is unbreakable. I tried injecting my own nanobots to block the signal from entering her brain, but that didn’t work either. Don’t worry, I removed those. Last, I tried to use magnetic waves to extract the nanobots through her skull but that also failed.”

“So, you’re saying there’s no way to stop the signal from reaching Adora’s brain?” Bow asks.

“Unfortunately, no. Not without destroying the Sword of Protection completely. If you destroy the computer, you destroy the signal, and the nanobots would cease functioning. But I don’t know what the consequences of that would be.”

The group stands in silence for a moment. Angella steps forward.

“The First Ones designed The Sword of Protection to contain She-Ra’s runestone. Before they arrived, She-Ra did not need any artificial machinery. Destroying the Sword may not cause Adora to lose her connection to the runestone.”

“We don’t know that!” Glimmer yells out.

“The First Ones used the Sword as a way to assign She-Ra’s power to one of their own. The power bonds to the person, regardless. Adora has already bonded to She-Ra’s runestone. The power may remain within her.”

“Angie, are you sure?” Micah asks his wife.

“I’m not. But if we do not free Adora from this simulation, no one will be better off. We have to do something.”

“Destroy it.” Catra says with certainty from behind everybody.

“Light Hope is evil. The First Ones are evil. Even if she wakes up and the Sword is fine, she still has to suffer from them. I can’t bear to watch her go through anymore.”

Catra starts tearing again. So much for hiding behind her walls.

“Destroy it.”

The room stays quiet for a moment, then Bow chimes in.

“How do we do that?”

Entrapta offers her theories as to how to destroy the Sword.

“Well, the structure and material The First Ones used to create the sword are virtually indestructible, but from my studies I’ve deduced that The First Ones’ She-Ra is vulnerable to magic. Everything they created is. I’d say a big enough magical energy blast should do the trick!”

“Who is gonna be the one to do it?” Catra asks.

Angella, realizing the danger of messing with She-Ra’s power, steps forward.

“I’m immortal. I need to be the one to do it.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Stop trying to manipulate me, Light Hope. I know this isn’t real.” 

“Adora, I will release you from the simulation, but you need to comply with ESA protocol. You are She-Ra. You must leave all distractions behind and focus only on your destiny.”

Adora stands up, pushing the fake Catra away. She feels horrible for doing that. 

“I will NEVER listen to you, I am NOT going to be the one to sacrifice my happiness in the name of some thousand year old organization that doesn’t even exist anymore! I want to save Etheria, but on MY OWN TERMS. Do you understand?”

“Adora, if you do not comply with ESA protocol, I will be forced to wipe your memory.”

___________________________________________________________________________

As Angella displays her magical ability of flight and carries the Sword high into the sky above Brightmoon Castle, she prepares her plan. She will throw it in the air, blasting it with the full force of the Moonstone’s energy. That should, hopefully, be enough to destroy The First Ones’ tech surrounding She-Ra’s power.

____________________________________________________________________________

“And then what? When I wake up, I’ll be surrounded by my friends… no, I’ll be surrounded by my family. They love me, they care for me, and they want me to be happy. They’ll NEVER let me follow you.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Angella looks down one last time to verify her altitude will not cause the explosion to create destruction on the ground.  
She throws the sword in the air and unleashes her magic. A massive pink and purple explosion, visible for miles, occurs over the Castle.

____________________________________________________________________________

Now, Light Hope is angry. The simulation surrounding Adora begins glitching like crazy.

“YOU WILL COMPLY, ADORA. YOU WILL ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY AS SHE-”

Everything goes black.  
____________________________________________________________________________

When it’s finally over, Angella returns to the ground, holding the broken handle of the Sword. The gem that contained She-Ra’s runestone magic is no longer glowing. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“Adora! You’re alright!”

Adora hears the muffled words come out of Catra’s mouth as she slowly opens her eyes.

As she sits up on the table, still groggy, she finds herself surrounded by everyone in her life. No. She’s surrounded by her family. As well as a few doctors, of course. 

“Adora! Never leave me like that again!” Catra cries into Adora’s ear as she tightly hugs the previously unconscious girl. 

“Guys? What happened out here? How long was I in the simulation?”

“About 5 hours, give or take. We’re just glad you’re back.” Glimmer says as she leans in to join Catra’s hug. Bow quickly follows.

“You can thank Entrapta for getting you out of there.” Bow says, muffling his own voice through Glimmer’s shoulder.

Entrapta perks up at the sound of her name and rushes over to Adora.

“Adora! You’re awake! I saved you!”

“Well, technically, I did, but thank you regardless, Entrapta...” Angella says as she walks into the room, holding the broken sword handle.

“...we could not have done it without your help.”

Entrapta smiles and turns back around to her work.

Adora, not immediately realizing what has happened, takes a look at Angella, and then what she is holding.

“Is that my sword?”

Angella sighs, but before she can speak, Catra cuts in and explains exactly what happened.

“Adora… the nanotech in your brain was being controlled by the Sword. We tried to block the signal but we had no choice, we had to destroy it.”

“Light Hope was going to erase my memories if I didn’t leave all of you behind and fulfill my duty as She-Ra. You all saved me just in time. Now I guess it’s official, I won.”

Adora wanted to sound happy saying that, but didn’t. She still wants to save Etheria.

Angella interrupts.

“Adora, there’s still a chance She-Ra’s runestone is still bound to your body. You should try to transform into her to confirm our theory.”

Adora stands up, still a little woozy, but doesn’t know what to do.

“I don’t really know how to do that without the sword.”

“Try saying the thing you always say.” Bow suggests.

“I guess it’s worth a shot. For the Honour of Grayskull!”

Nothing happens. 

“Let me try it again. For the Honour of Grayskull!”

Still, nothing.  
“Adora, it’s okay. You’ll figure it out. Plus, it won’t matter to us if you’re not She-Ra anymore, you’re still our friend and you’re more than welcome to stay here.” Glimmer says, hoping to bring Adora some comfort.

“I agree, you have done so much for us in the past three months. Both of you,” Micah adds, staring at both Adora and Catra, “you both can stay here as long as you like.”

“Thanks, your majesty. That means a lot.” Adora replies. Micah smiles.

“Adora, did Light Hope reveal anything to you in the simulation about The First Ones’ magic harvesting projects?” Angella asks.

“No, but, she said it was She-Ra’s duty to defend The First Ones’ projects from The Horde. Razz said something about the Crystal Castle having answers, I don’t know…”

Angella and Catra glance at each other. 

“Adora, I know you have been through a lot, but, I think we need to get to the Crystal Castle as soon as possible.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“BROTHERS! It is time. Now, we strike the Heart of Brightmoon. Now, we take control of Etheria. When we control Brightmoon, we control all of Etheria! Deploy all battalions! The time for invasion is upon us!”

A crowd of Horde soldiers cheer at the clone’s remarks.

“TONIGHT! We fire the deadly blow that will bring ALL OF BRIGHTMOON into the might of The Horde and into the light of Horde Prime! Tonight we conquer Arksia! Then Thaymor! Then Elberon! Then Alwyn! Until finally, we liberate the oppressors of Brightmoon Castle! All in Horde Prime’s eternal name!”

“Glory be to Horde Prime!” The crowd chants.

Hordak, still connected to the hivemind, asks his brother a question.

“Brother, what am I to do now?”

“Prepare the hivemind ship for transport. We are to establish a new presence in Brightmoon, permanently.”


	10. Arksia

The group of Adora, Catra, Bow, Glimmer, Micah, Angella and Entrapta all find themselves teleported to Arksia, just outside the Grayskull base.

“Glimmer, I need you to teleport to the other kingdoms and alert the remaining members of the Princess Alliance we may need their assistance. If they agree, bring them back here.” Micah orders his daughter.

“But, dad! I’ll drain my powers teleporting that much distance!”

“Not if you take this,” Angella says, handing her daughter the Moonstone necklace.

“You’ll have more than enough power if you keep that on you.”

Glimmer, not sure what to say, hugs her mom.

“I love you, mom. Thank you.”

Micah quickly joins in the family hug before letting Glimmer know the urgency of the situation.

“Okay, Glimmer, work fast please. Get as many of them here as possible.”

“I’m on it, dad.” Glimmer responds as she disappears into sparkles.

“Adora, do you know your way around this place?” Micah asks.

You could say that...” Adora says with a grin.

“...come on, follow me!”

The group follows Adora into Grayskull. Adora, for the first time, notices how everything that once appeared as words now appears as scribbles and patterns on the walls. The nanobots must really be gone.

As she nears the entrance to the Crystal Castle, she is stopped by the door. Remembering the countless times she’s recited the password, she recites it again.

“Eternia.”

The door opens and the group files inside. Once inside, the group finds nothing but a dark, empty space.  
“Are you sure this is it?” Micah asks.

“I’m positive! Everything was right here!” Adora responds.

Suddenly, a quick, high-pitched tone fills the castle, causing everyone to plug their ears.

“It’s Light Hope! She’s still here!” 

Suddenly, an interlocking nanorobotic projection of Light Hope appears before them.

“Adora, you have destroyed the Sword of Protection. You have been classified a traitor to the ESA, and your friends have been classified as accomplices.”

“Light Hope! Listen to me! The ESA doesn’t exist anymore! It hasn’t for a thousand years! You don’t need to do this!”

“I am sorry, Adora. The Crystal Castle is reserved only for She-Ra and those granted authority by the ESA. You and your friends do not fit either category. ESA Security Protocol has now been activated.”

Suddenly, the castle begins rumbling. Before they know it, they are surrounded by security drones, each armed with some sort of weaponry. Micah instinctively conjures a protective bubble spell to surround the group just in time for them to be bombarded by plasma beams. Catra instinctively reaches for Adora and they both hold on to one another. 

“Adora! The First Ones were siphoning magic directly from the ground, if they were storing it here, that’s probably where it is. Can you get us there?” Angella asks.

Adora, attempting to remember each time she wandered around the castle, thinks hard of the time she found the underground rooms. She thinks she has it.

“Follow me!” Adora begins walking towards the door along the far wall, Micah carrying the bubble above the group. 

Adora leads the group down several flights of stairs into an all-white room with a secured door on the front. 

“I think this might be it.”

By now, the group has escaped the drones, but Micah still remains cautious and remains ready to defend everyone. Bow keeps his bow and arrows at the ready should he need to fire. Catra can’t do much except look intimidating with her claws out.

“I think you need a password to open it,” Entrapta suggests.  
“Eternia!” Adora yells.

Nothing happens.

“ETERNIA!”

Nothing.

“It obviously needs a different password,” Catra tells Adora.

“Does anyone know what that says?” Adora asks.

Bow takes a hard look at it. The patterns almost seem familiar to him. Then he gets it.

“I’ve seen that before! It’s all over my dads’ First Ones military artifacts! I think it’s the name of the last She-Ra. Reports of her are where it appears the most. I don’t know her name though.”

“Does anyone know the name of the last She-Ra?” Adora asks.

Angella chimes in.

“I do. My parents named a city after her. Serenia.”

As Angella finishes speaking, the door slides open. A vast underground room full of stored magic is revealed. The glowing light from the condensed ball of pure magical energy shines on everyone’s face. The group walks into the cavern and stands on the walkway attached to the wall.

“Ok, there is no way I am going to be anywhere near this thing when it goes off.” Catra states, backing away from the ledge. 

“If we destroy the restraints around it, it should set the magic free.” Angella says.

“Who’s going to be the one to do that? That will take this whole complex down!” Catra exclaims.

Before anyone can answer, the ground above them rumbles.

“What was that?” Bow asks, scared.

“If that's what I think it was, we need to get outside.” Micah states.

“What do you think it was, Micah?” Angella asks.  
“Nothing good. You four, stay in here. You’ll be safe. Angie, you and I go outside.”

Micah takes his wife’s hand and uses his sorcery to teleport them outside. Just as Micah suspected, The Horde was invading. The sky seems filled with an endless amount of Horde ships. After taking a second to think, Micah has a decent plan.

“Angie, I need you to wait here for Glimmer. Once she returns with the other princesses, show her where to go inside the castle. The other princesses and I will handle things out here, you get Glimmer to teleport everyone else back to safety. You’ll have to be the one to free the magic, you’re the only one strong enough.”

Angella, amazed at her husband’s planning skills, does little more than she needs to in response.

She leans in to kiss her husband, and after she does, softly speaks the words “I’m on it. I love you.”

Micah smiles a determined smile and uses his sorcery to whisk himself into the sky to start attacking Horde ships. Not long after, Glimmer appears with Mermista, Sea Hawk, Perfuma, Frosta, Scorpia, Netossa, and Spinnerella. 

“That’s all of them! We heard The Horde came out to play, let’s hope this magic freeing plan of ours works.”

Angella smiles proudly at her daughter before turning to the others and taking charge like a true queen. 

“Mermista, Frosta, I need you both helping Micah in the sky. Netossa and Spinnerella, I need you both on damage control… protect as many people from falling wreckage as possible. Perfuma, Sea Hawk and Scorpia, I need you defending the Crystal Castle. We CANNOT let The Horde bury it before we release the magic trapped underneath. Glimmer and I will be inside with the others. We don’t have She-Ra anymore, but we still have each other, united. It worked before, it will work again. Don’t let Etheria down.”

Upon finishing her speech, Angella and Glimmer teleport inside the castle. The remaining members of the NPA outside quickly charge out to their assigned positions, all screaming,

“FOR ETHERIA!”

____________________________________________________________________________

As the ground above them continues to shake, dropping dust on them, Catra, Adora, Bow and Entrapta all cling together under a metal awning. Entrapta, doing something on her portable work screen, seems to be studying the room they are in. Eventually, Queen Angella and Glimmer appear in front of them. 

“Bow!” Glimmer shouts as Bow stands up, rushing to hug her. The massive glowing ball of magic, at least 20 storeys in height and width, illuminates their embrace as Angella can only look on at her daughter’s joy. She smiles. 

Entrapta approaches Angella with intent.

“Queen Angella! After a quick sensory scan of this room I have determined the restraints around the mass of magic are located in each corner of the room. The First Ones obviously intended to drain the magic from this room many centuries ago so it has done nothing but grow and has probably surpassed its limits by now. You will need a sudden blast of overwhelming magical power in order to dislodge it from the restraints. After that, the subsequent blast should destroy anything The First Ones built around it and set the magic free!”

“Very well. I need to create a blast of energy and everything should fall into place?”

“Correct!”

“Mom, no! What if the magic kills you! This is so much power, even you might not be able to handle it.”

“I’ll be fine, Glimmer. I-”

Angella is cut off by a swirling blue cloud that materializes into her husband.

“Angella! I need you outside. The Horde has sent their entire armada! We need more people in the sky right now, you can come back here later.” Micah states.

“Alright,” Angella tells her husband, then turns to Glimmer.

“Glimmer, I need you to get everyone else here to safety.”

“With all due respect, your majesty, I want to fight!” Bow perks up from his spot.

“I do too!” Entrapta says, “I may not be able to fight physically BUT I can use my technology to alert you all to Horde movements.”

Angella looks at Bow, then Entrapta, then Catra and Adora. Before they can say anything, Angella makes a royal declaration.  
“Bow and Entrapta, come with us. Adora and Catra, you both remain here and stay safe. That’s an order. I don’t want to see you two girls get hurt anymore.”

Before Catra can argue, a very tired Adora puts her hand over Catra’s shoulder. Catra looks at Adora and closes her mouth. 

“Alright then, Let’s go, everyone.” Micah says. The five of them disappear, leaving Adora and Catra.

Alone.

____________________________________________________________________________

As Angella, Micah, Glimmer, Bow and Entrapta materialize outside, they see the scale of the fight they have just entered. Mermista and Frosta are hard at work in the sky, swatting Horde ships out of the sky with water and ice daggers. Netossa and Spinnerella remain on the ground, catching and blowing away any wreckage or fire that falls. Scorpia, Perfuma and Sea Hawk defend the Crystal Castle with whatever might they can bring to the table. Now, it’s time for the New Princess Alliance to shine.

“Bow and Entrapta, go join Perfuma, Scorpia and Sea Hawk. Do NOT let The Horde destroy the Crystal Castle before we release the magic, otherwise we may never be able to. Angie, you and Glimmer help Mermista and Frosta. I’ll follow close behind. “

Angella smiles again at her husband, gives him an affirming nod, and takes flight with Glimmer. Micah follows them into the sky as Bow and Entrapta run toward the others. 

Entrapta, looking at her screen, is able to track Horde ship movements as they near them.

“Bow! To your left in 5 seconds!”

Bow turns to his left, aims, holds, and fires. His explosive arrow bursts on impact and destroys the Horde ship. 

“Thanks, Entrapta. How many more?”

“Lots!”

“Well then, let’s get to work.”

____________________________________________________________________________

As Adora and Catra cling to each other on the metal catwalk in the magic containment room, the ground above them shakes and rumbles stronger with more and more frequency. 

Catra, while never admitting it to anyone, is scared. However, Adora is the only person she would even consider showing her real emotions to, let alone tell her. Adora, regardless, can sense Catra’s fear.

“Catra, it’s okay. The crashing sounds mean the Horde ships are being destroyed. That’s a good thing.”

Catra turns to Adora, smiles, and takes her hand. Just as she does, another massive explosion rocks the ground just above them, violently shaking the entire room. Suddenly, the catwalk they are sitting on gives out. Both Catra and Adora plummet to the bottom of the cavern, at least 30 feet down.


	11. Gold

“ADORA! ADORA!” Catra cries out to Adora, who is bleeding from her head. Catra never lost consciousness when they hit the ground but she thinks she broke both of her legs. Adora, on the other hand, has a nasty head injury, among other things. Catra can’t take much more of seeing Adora in pain.

“ADORA!”

As Adora fades in and out of consciousness, she can barely make out Catra’s pleas for her to stay awake. She tries responding, but all she can muster are garbled sounds. 

“Adora! Please! Don’t fall asleep! I’m gonna get you out of here!”

Adora, finally able to comprehend what Catra is saying, attempts to reply.

“C-Catra?”

“Adora! Yes! Stay Awake! It’s really important that you stay awake!”

“W-what happened?”

“The walkway fell after an explosion. We’re on the floor, you hit your head.”

“Are-are you okay?”

Oh, Adora. Always worried about everyone except herself.

“Yes, I’m fine. I think I broke both of my legs but I’m fine.”

“We should get out of here.” Adora can barely keep her eyes open.

“Adora! NO! Keep your eyes open!”

Adora drifts off to sleep. 

“ADORA!”

____________________________________________________________________________

As the NPA fights The Horde over the city of Arksia, the hivemind ship approaches.

“Spinny! What’s that?!” Netossa shouts, pointing at the massive ship coming towards them.

“No, it can’t be…” Angella says to Glimmer, setting them both down on the ground next to Micah.

“It is.” Micah confirms. It’s the same Horde ship that brought so much death and destruction to Etheria 18 years ago. The one that killed millions of people. The one the last alliance failed to stop.

“Micah! We have to retreat! I’m not getting these children killed! Not again!”

Micah, torn between his will to fight or his wife’s wisdom, stops to ponder. After giving it much thought, he finally decides.

“RETREAT!” he shouts. 

Everyone hears Micah and comes running towards him.

“Glimmer, I need you to teleport everyone back to the Castle. Angie, I need you to release the magic now. We may not have any more time.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Catra has nowhere to go. She’s trapped on the floor of the cavern with Adora, All she can do now is hold her unconscious body close and pray for the best. Catra tries to think of something… anything that might wake Adora up. Out of nowhere, she gets an idea.

“We’ve come a long, long way together…”

Adora remains still.

“...through the hard times, and the good...”

Adora remains still and silent as Catra continues singing the stupid song she knows Adora loves.

“...I have to celebrate you, baby…”

Adora still doesn’t move. Catra bursts into tears as she prepares to sing the next line.

“...I have to praise you, like I should…”

Catra buries her crying face into Adora’s sternum. She can’t believe she might actually lose her, the only person she has ever cared about. 

“Adora… if you don’t wake up... “

Catra puts her ear to Adora’s chest to listen to her heart beating.

“...I just wanted you to know that I-”

“...I love you.” 

Adora still remains quiet. Catra continues.

“I’ve wanted to tell you forever, but I kept putting it off because you seemed so busy all the time, I wanted to let you figure out your own problems before I gave you mine.”

Catra notices Adora’s heartbeat steadily growing faster. 

“I can’t imagine my life without you… I never want to leave you… I love you, so much.”

Adora’s heart races.

“Please, Adora, wake up. So I can see your stupid face when I tell you.”  
Like magic, Adora immediately sputters. 

“Adora? Can you hear me?”

Just then, a bright, golden hue surrounds Adora. 

“Adora??? What’s happening???”

Before either of them realize it, the gash on Adora’s forehead is gone, and Adora slowly awakens.

“Catra?”

Adora opens her eyes and sees Catra practically lying on top of her. 

“ADORA! YOU’RE AWAKE! THANK GOD!”

“Yeah… I feel, fine? Why do I feel fine?”

“I don’t know! You were glowing gold and then you woke up!”

Adora thinks she realizes what that means, but she has something else on her mind. Catra offers the topic first.

“Hey, so, uh… did you hear what I said?” Catra asks, holding back a smile that the love of her life is alive and well.

“Which part? The part with the singing or the part where you said you loved me?”

Catra’s face turns stoic. Adora laughs at her reaction.

“Agh! You idiot!” Catra says, pushing Adora away as she sits up. Adora is still laughing. Catra turns away in embarrassment. Adora stops laughing once she recognizes Catra’s emotions.

“Catra…” Adora says with a calming voice. Catra turns to look at her, arms crossed and shoulders shrugged.

“...remember what Razz said? That love is the key to unlocking the real magic? Well, I think I finally know what she meant.”

Catra keeps staring at Adora, unsure of where this is going. Before she knows it, Adora is sitting up, face to face with her.

Adora proceeds to shove her face into Catra’s, passionately kissing her like she has always wanted to. Catra can’t help but follow her lead, thinking:

That smooth, smug idiot. 

She loves her so much. 

“I love you too.” Adora says as she leans out of the kiss. 

Catra can only stare at Adora in shock. All of her emotions flood her. This is everything she has ever wanted. Now she has it, and it is the greatest feeling in history. Before she can say anything, Adora starts glowing.

“Adora… you’re… glowing.”

Adora blushes at what she thinks is a compliment. Catra realizes the misunderstanding immediately.

“No, you idiot! You’re actually glowing!”

Adora, having not taken her eyes off of Catra, doesn’t even notice her entire body glowing golden. She grabs on to Catra, realizing what is about to happen, and soon enough, a massive flash of magic fills the room.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Micah! We can come back for the magic later! Right now we need to get out of here so we all stay ali-”

Angella is cut off by a massive explosion. The Crystal Castle emits a blinding flash of golden light and sinks into the ground. Another massive explosion of magic follows. The entire group is stunned.

“Uh, what was that?” Mermista asks. 

Before anyone answers, a bright glowing light appears from the rubble. It begins moving towards them, eventually turning into a figure.

It’s She-Ra. In her pure, magical form, walking beside Catra, the one she loves. They approach Micah and the group.

“Adora?” Micah asks.

“It’s She-Ra!” Glimmer exclaims.

Adora smiles at Micah, at all of her friends, and then at Catra. She takes her hand and says,

“I’ll be right back. I’ll try not to almost die again.”

Catra hits Adora’s bicep, knowing it doesn’t hurt a bit.

“You’re an absolute idiot.”

“Yeah… but I’m your idiot.” 

Adora bends down to kiss Catra quickly, summons her real Sword of Protection out of thin air, then turns and runs toward the massive Horde ship hovering toward them. Catra blushes. Bow and Glimmer stare at each other, surprised and happy. The whole group turns to watch Adora, who, after running very far very fast, jumps roughly 200 feet into the air, sending a shockwave through the rubble and wreckage in the street. 

“So… I guess she can do that now…” Catra says as she blushes again. 

They watch in awe as She-Ra bursts through the hull of the Horde ship, seconds later sending massive explosions out of all sides. 

“...and, that.” 

Catra’s face is bright red. That’s her girl.

A few moments later, the ship crashes to the ground. The NPA runs over to the crash site where they find She-Ra holding a large container with several severed tubes protruding from it. 

“I’m pretty sure this is the hivemind. King Micah, would you like to do the honours?” Adora says as she tosses it on the ground in front of Micah.

“Actually, She-Ra, I think you got this.” Micah yields to her.

“If you say so,” Adora says, smiling. She picks up the box, throws it impossibly high into the air, takes her sword, and blasts the hivemind out of existence. The explosion is bright and amazing.

Just then, a clone emerges from the wreckage. Entrapta immediately recognizes him.

“HORDAK!” 

She runs over to him and hugs him.

“I missed you!”

“Entrapta? Yes, Entrapta! I remember you!”

Entrapta lets out a happy shriek.

As Entrapta and Hordak converse, Adora detransforms and rejoins Catra’s side, taking her hand. Bow and Glimmer find them.

“So…” Bow begins, “you two finally admit your feelings?” He already knows the answer.

“Arrow Boy, I think this is the only appropriate answer to that question.”

Catra turns and kisses Adora again, square on the lips. Adora is a bit surprised, but loves it. She loves her. 

Glimmer can’t help but laugh. 

Angella and Micah walk over to the two pairs.

“I see someone had quite the glow-up,” Micah says, directed at Adora. Adora just smiles.

“...and I see someone found what she was looking for,” Angella says, directed at Catra. Angella shares a look with her, one that says nothing except “I’m proud of you.” After all, that’s what good mothers do. 

“So are you two, like, a couple now, or?” Mermista asks, arm locked with Sea Hawk’s.

Adora and Catra just turn to one another and share a loving look, then break into laughter. 

“Ohh! I’m so happy for you both!” Perfuma says, growing a wreath of flowers around their necks.

“Why can I say I’m not surprised?” Netossa chimes in, Spinnerella at her side. 

“Adora! Tell us! How did you free the magic?” Spinnerella asks.

Adora turns and looks at everyone, staring at her, awaiting her answer. 

“Let’s just say… Catra helped. I couldn’t have done it without her.”  
Catra smiles and tucks into Adora’s side as Adora squeezes her closer.

“The magic is free now, I can feel it.” Angella states, a bit more serious.

“Yes, it is. When I transformed into She-Ra, the burst of magical energy from my transformation destroyed the restraints. Thankfully I was able to protect Catra, like she’s protected me.”

Bow can’t help but let out a massive “awwwww” and he puts his arm around Glimmer. He turns around, realizing Micah and Angella are behind them, but all he sees is Angella smiling and Micah giving him a thumbs up. He’s earned it. 

More clones emerge from the destroyed ship. Micah notices first.

“Don’t harm them! The hivemind is destroyed. If they’re anything like Hordak, they’ll be of value to us, and worth keeping as new members of the NPA.”

“What about the remaining Horde soldiers?” Catra asks.

“It will take some time, but we’ll eventually clean up, get to Skyland and liberate everyone. Now that there’s no Horde standing in our way, that part should be easy. We may have to re-educate a lot of people, but, it will be worth it.”

Catra and Adora both smile at the prospect of their former home being turned into a force for good.


	12. Epilogue/Best Friend Squad

Weeks have passed, and Brightmoon’s members of the New Princess Alliance are getting ready for dinner. Micah and Angella eagerly await the event. Bow and Glimmer remain in her bedroom, trying on different outfits. Adora and Catra are in their room, laying in bed together, still obsessed with one another. 

“So… what did you tell him again?”

“I told Arrow Boy if he ever called us that again I was going to sink my claws into his eyeballs.”

Adora giggles. Catra loves every second of it.

“Aw, I kinda liked that name!”

“You liked The Best Friend Squad?”  
“It sounds… fitting.”

“That’s exactly what he told me.”

Adora laughs some more. 

“If you hate it so much why did you even bring it up to me?”

“I don’t know… I just wanted to see your reaction.”

“You like it, don’t you?” Adora taunts Catra. 

“I’ll like it but only if you like it.” Catra admits, embarrassed. Adora lets out a loving “awwww”.

“You love me, don’t you?”

“You know I do.” 

Catra and Adora’s lips lock as they engage in a loving embrace. Finally, they thought, they were free. Free to love, free to live, free to do whatever their hearts desire. Suddenly, they hear a knock on the door.

Free to do whatever their hearts desire… after dinner.

“Catra! Adora! Get your hands off each other! It’s dinner time!” Glimmer yells through the door.

Catra, happily agitated at Glimmer’s remarks, screams back.

“Sparkles, you’re lucky you can teleport because otherwise I would hunt you down for that comment!”

Adora just stares at her, lovingly.

“What?” Catra asks.

Adora smiles.

“I just can’t figure out why I get to be right here, right now, with you.”

Catra smiles back.

“Me neither.”

Catra and Adora continue staring at each other in their bed until Bow unexpectedly walks in.

“Hey, guys, dinner’s ready. Meet us downsta-”

“BOW! KNOCK!” they scream in unison.

“Sorry!” Bow screams as he runs out the door, knowing he can’t teleport away.

Adora and Catra turn to each other and break down laughing.

“Come on, we should go eat. I’m pretty hungry.” Adora suggests.

“Bet I can beat you to the dining hall!” Catra exclaims.

“Bet you can’t!”

“Oh yeah? Watch this!”

Catra spins in front of Adora and kisses her, gently touching foreheads afterwards to look in her eyes. Adora, surprised by the action, takes a moment before she realizes that Catra has already run out the door.

“HEY! THAT’S CHEATING!”

Adora sprints out the door, trailing Catra, both of them laughing all the way to the dining hall.

They have, in fact, come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good. 

Now it is time to celebrate with each other…

...just like they should.


	13. Razz/Next Story Lead In

“Razz! Are you home? We came to visit!” Adora shouts after knocking on the cabin door.

“Adora, are you sure? Two out of two times now you’ve passed out in this cabin.”

“Relax, Catra, nothing’s gonna happen this time. We’re just paying her a little visit. It’s the least we can do.”

Catra crosses her arms and puts on a fake pouty face in hopes of amusing her girlfriend. Girlfriend. She can’t believe Adora is her girlfriend now. Life is perfect. 

The door opens, and Razz answers.

“Ah! Dearies! You came to visit old Madame Razz! How nice of you! Come in, I just made a pie!”

Finally, Catra thought. She’s still never had a pie. 

Adora and Catra make their ways to their usual sitting spots, eagerly awaiting fresh pie.

“Hot pie, just for you two girls!” Razz says as she brings out the steaming tray. Catra’s mouth begins to water. 

Razz cuts the girls a piece each and sets them on the plates before them. Adora is the first to take a bite, Catra immediately following.

“Wow, Razz! This is really GOOD! Thank you!” Adora says as Catra cannot seem to find any time for words while she attempts to eat up every last bit of pie on her plate. 

“I knew you’d like it, dearie. I made it with fresh-picked berries, just like how Kyle likes it!”

Adora and Catra stop and stare with visible confusion.

“Who’s Kyle?” Adora asks.

“Oh, don’t be silly, dearie. You know who Kyle is.”

“Uh, no I don’t.”

“Oh, you really don’t know?" Razz asks with sincerity.

“Who is Kyle?” Adora asks, amused but remaining polite through her frustration.

“Your father, dearie.”

Catra drops her pie.


End file.
